{"id":357,"date":"2023-06-27T11:23:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T11:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cdrconsultstg.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=357"},"modified":"2025-01-15T12:28:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T12:28:30","slug":"2023-investor-relations-society-conference-cdrs-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cdrconsultancy.com\/asia\/2023-investor-relations-society-conference-cdrs-view\/","title":{"rendered":"2023 Investor Relations Society Conference: CDR\u2019s view"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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2023 Investor Relations Society Conference: CDR\u2019s view<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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CDR was proud to support the Investor Relations Society conference hosted last week in London. Following disruption from the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, and rail strikes in 2022, the 2023 conference felt like the first opportunity in a long time for the IR community to come together to share insights, experiences and best practice.<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The conference, hosted once again by journalist Evan Davis, had a wide-ranging agenda and an impressive line up of speakers and panellists from CEOs (from TalkTalk and Informa) and IROs (including those from British Land, GSK, Haleon, LSEG, Redde Northgate and Segro), to fund managers (from Invesco, Legal & General Investment Management and Norges Bank) and bankers (including from Bank of America, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs).<\/p>

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given its rapid rise in recent months, AI was the thread that ran throughout the sessions, replacing ESG as the hot topic in previous years. While Goldman Sachs economist, Fillippo Taddei, reported that 25% of tasks we currently do could be replaced by AI, the consensus view throughout the conference was that human interaction can\u2019t be replaced or replicated.<\/p>

Despite being relegated to second place by AI, ESG clearly remained an important theme throughout the conference. But perhaps in a more embedded way than in the past, giving credence to the view that it is succeeding in becoming integrated. While the \u2018E\u2019 remains more of a standalone topic \u2013 with a panel session dedicated to TCFD and scenario analysis \u2013 the lines are more blurred when discussing \u2018S\u2019 related themes. In the wake of the CBI and Crispin Odey scandals, the handling of matters such as these arose in conversation. In his opening remarks, Evan Davis, with reference to the\u00a0#metoo<\/a>\u00a0movement, noted that \u201coften, the handling of [an incident] gets judged more than the occurrence itself\u201d and in a later fireside chat, Sanjay Nazerali (Brand President, dentsu X) commented that \u201cpeople don\u2019t mind mistakes as much as the cover up\u201d reinforcing the importance of authenticity, accountability and transparency from companies and the individuals running them.<\/p>

Another theme that emerged through many of the conversations was the importance of clarity. Hardly a surprising observation, but one that was made most notably by the panel of investors who urged companies to simplify messaging and make content digestible and accessible to generalist portfolio managers.<\/p>

At an event dominated by listed-company representatives, it was fascinating to hear from Tristia Harrison, CEO of TalkTalk which was taken private in 2021. Having begun her career in investor relations, and having led TalkTalk as a listed business, her observation of IR for a private company is that \u201cit\u2019s not really different\u201d as the core principles of good governance and transparency still apply. She did, though, concede that it can be \u201ceasier to do some things out of public glare.\u201d<\/p>

While delegates from private companies will have been unlikely to join the \u2018consensus management\u2019 panel discussion, it was a well-attended session covering the use of consensus management tools, the importance of intra-period communication for short term expectation management and broader capital markets events for longer term prospects and the potential of AI around the qualitative aspects of managing consensus (but not the quantitative ones!).<\/p>

Through the fireside chat with Informa\u2019s CEO, Stephen Carter, it was evident how much value he, and the company, placed on IR. Looking back on the outset of Covid, he reflected that when turning to debt and equity investors to raise capital, the relationships they had really mattered. The fact that investors knew them well and trusted management counted for a lot, commenting that they were \u201c100% in a better position because of good IR in the past.\u201d<\/p>

There was so much valuable content covered over the course of the day, it\u2019s impossible to summarise it, but some of the top practical take-aways we wanted to share are:<\/p>