Asian small caps score management buy-in for IR

Asian firms reportedly have a hard time getting senior management buy-in for IR activities – but things are looking up.

According to IR Magazine’s latest Global Practice Report, Asia-based top executives committed an average 66 days to investor relations-related tasks in 2016, a year-on-year increase of eight days. The figure is substantially higher than for senior managers based in Europe, where the average for the year is 36 days, and the US, where it’s 42.

Asian CFOs remain the most involved in the IR program, spending a total of 31 days on investor relations, or twice as much time as CEOs. Other members of senior management such as COOs or divisional managers have increased their days devoted to IR by two. 

Small-cap firms in particular have ramped up senior management commitment to IR, doubling the average number of days to a noteworthy 90 in 2016. Mid-cap companies have added two more IR days during the same period, while mega-cap companies have enjoyed top executive support for seven days fewer.

Interestingly, most of this IR work is done behind the scenes, not facing investors. The average number of investor meetings for Asian firms was 194 last year – on par with a global average of 192 – down from 224 the previous year, with Asian senior management attending around a third of them, compared with 46 percent globally.

The general trend that sees the proportion of meetings involving senior management decrease as cap size increases is shaken up in the Asian region. Indeed, the highest percentage of senior management attendance is found at Asian mid-cap firms, where 41 percent of meetings are attended by top executives, followed by mega-caps at 38 percent, small caps at 33 percent and large caps at 29 percent.