IR calendars say more than you think

By Dominic Jones

I HAVE just come from visiting a well-known company’s investor relations website where I noticed something that I see far too often: an empty calendar of future events.

“There are currently no events scheduled,” says the placeholder text provided by the vendor that hosts this particular firm’s website.

Under construction! Move along, nothing to see here.

Is an empty calendar of events a big deal? Probably not if viewed in isolation. But before visiting this company’s website, I was on the site of one of its main competitors.

The competitor’s site is very well managed. It had a full calendar of events for the next 12 months, including dates for earnings releases, dividends and something so unique I’m not going to give it away here, but it was impressive.

Now which company do you think looks more professional? Which appears to have internal controls and systems that enable it to set specific release dates and meet them? Which firm looks like its IR department has a marketing plan? Which one looks as if it’s responsive to shareholders and wants to keep them in the loop?

In a competitive arena where investors literally have thousands of choices, it’s the little things that count. And if you’re not managing the little things, you’re not being counted.

Empty calendars of upcoming events, or ones that simply haven’t been updated, are probably the result of inadequate resources or poor site management. Either way, it’s something good IR departments are on top of.

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