Corporations are making increasing use of technology tools in their investor relations activities, a new study shows.
Conference calls and broadcast faxing have become nearly universal, while newer tools such as e-mail and Web sites are quickly catching on, according to the study released last month by the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI). The study is based on 201 telephone interviews conducted last May with corporate IR executives.
Among the key findings:
- 94 percent of respondents use broadcast fax to distribute earnings information;
- 73 percent of respondents conduct teleconferences with analysts (an increase of 12 percent over last year);
- 55 percent of respondents have a Web site;
- 29 percent plan to have a site within one year; and
- only 11 percent reported using e-mail to distribute earnings information.
"We're great believers in advanced technologies, like the Internet," says Ed Orgon, chief operating officer with corporate and financial communications firm The Torrenzano Group, New York. Like all tools, however, he points that they must be used in the right situations.
For example, he has seen some CD-ROM annual reports that are no more than "pictures on a disk." And he has seen others that take full advantage of the medium, including, for example, financial statements in electronic spreadsheet form, which allows analysts to test various scenarios and project the financial outcome.
Companies responding to the NIRI survey are using Web sites to disseminate a variety of information to the investment community. Almost all (85 percent) of those with home pages use it as a place to post quarterly earnings announcements. Other IR materials widely posted by respondents are 10Ks (65 percent), 10Qs (63 percent) and annual reports (57 percent).
The NIRI report, "Utilizing Technology in the Practice of Investor Relations," can be ordered from NIRI for $35 ($25 for members) by calling 703/506-3570.
(Torrenzano, 212/681-1700)