Читать книгу A Review of IR Practices in Bahrain - Mohamed Sr. Isa - Страница 7

In a research covering 547 large UK listed companies (Marston, 1996), it was found that:

(a)48% of the respondents had no designated Investor Relations Officer (IRO),

(b)32% of respondents had one employee who handled IR as part of his other responsibilities and,

(c)Only 20% of respondents had a dedicated Investor Relations Officer (IRO).

In another survey covering Continental Europe, it was found that 96% of companies surveyed disclosed that they have a dedicated IR Department (Marston and Straker, 2001). The length of time the IR Departments had been established ranges from under one year to 16 years with a mean of 7.3 years. This is another evidence of the perceived importance of IR function in Top European Companies.

In yet another research covering 24 UK Companies (Dolphin, 2004), it was found that:

(a)30% of respondents had established a dedicated IR department,

(b)15% of respondents arranged for IR to be handled either by the Finance or Legal Department and,

(c)55% of respondents arranged for IR to be handled by the communication executive.

The survey of Bank of New York Mellon (2007) highlighted above in Section 1.3 indicates that there has been some development in IR Department organization over the past few years. According to them, on average each participant/company in the survey had four IR staff in the IR Department.

It is evident from the various surveys cited above that companies are realizing how important IR is in maintaining current shareholders, attracting new ones and getting better coverage by investment analysts which ultimately lead to a better valuation for their shares. Hence, these companies have set up exclusive departments for handling IR activities. The question was in 1996 surveys whether companies had an IR Department whereas the question in 2007 became how many staff the company recruited in the IR Department.

Some companies integrate IR with Corporate Communication to achieve several objectives such as gaining efficiencies in planning and use of resources, enhanced coordination of messages and a consistent public appearance (Kariola, 2003).

According to Marston (1996), there are several reasons that affect the organization of IR Department including among other things the size of the company, overseas listings, regulatory requirements and the continuing increase in sophistication of the world’s capital markets.

In addition, shareholders lawsuits, accounting scandals, business media and public calls are all factors that drive the establishment of IR Departments and activities (Silver, 2004). For example, Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted on 30 July 2002 in USA in response to major corporate and accounting scandals such as Enron and WorldCom. It requires among other things enhanced disclosures for all U.S. publicly traded companies financials, boards, management, and accounting firms (Wikipedia, 2008a).