Investor Relations: Ask Me Anything
This new event format from the Investor Relations Society will provide a great opportunity to hear from, learn and most importantly, ask questions to a panel of IR and corporate experts outside of the constraints of a particular topic.
Whether you are working on a specific project, have results coming up, or are simply looking for practical advice or a different perspective on a particular issue, this panel hosts a wide variety of expertise in investor relations along with broking and corporate access.
Hear from these experts in a facilitated panel discussion beginning with an introduction from each of the panellists sharing what they do and their experience before opening the floor to questions including those submitted in advance. It is intended to be a varied, discussion led conversation, covering the variety of topics found across your day to day roles.
There will be a dedicated half an hour following the discussion for networking, as well as during the arrival.
Agenda
15:00 - 15:30: Arrival, registration and networking
15:30 - 16:30: Ask Me Anything - Panel discussion and Q&A
16:30 - 17:00: Networking
What will I gain?
- An overview of the fundamental areas of regulation and compliance that affect IR
- An understanding of the areas of regulation with a day-to-day impact on IR
- A toolkit for dealing with price sensitive information, disclosure requirements, transactions and listing obligations and the financial and reporting calendar
- An overview of UK Listing rules: IPOs, Prospectus, Secondary listings, M&A, etc.
- An understanding of stock exchange obligations
Who should attend?
- CIR candidates
- New and experienced IROs
- Corporate communications and financial PR professionals
- Company secretaries involved in IR activities will also benefit from this course
Course tutor: Deborah Morton-Dare

Deborah specialises in financial training for all levels from beginners to advanced. She presents a comprehensive range of courses to a diverse range of corporate clients and financial institutions and specialises in making complex technical subjects comprehensible.
Deborah qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Young and then worked in Corporate Finance gaining wide ranging experience in a variety of corporate and financial institutions. She then worked as a financial consultant to companies assisting them in raising finance and structuring.
Course tutor: Lorraine Rees - MD, IR-connect

Lorraine established the IR-connect consultancy in 2015 which specialises in IR for IPOs, and personalised IR mentoring for executive and non-executive directors, IR Directors and IROs. She runs a number of courses for the IR Society including the Diploma modules. Prior to setting up her consultancy company, she was IR Director at Standard Life plc, Head of IR at The Phoenix Group, and an equity analyst at Exane BNP Paribas. She originally trained as a chartered accountant, and has also worked in strategy, corporate finance, private equity and banking.
Programme
Module One
- Understanding the regulatory framework
- Role of a Sponsor
- Insider dealing and market abuse; how to deal with price sensitive information
- Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules (DTRs)– continuing obligations
- Dealing with the sell-side
- Knowing your shareholders
- Financial calendar and reporting
- Recent case studies and current issues
Module Two
- Transactions and Listing Obligations
- Introduction to current regulatory framework
- IPO Process and market choice
- Listing rules and Prospectus rules
- IPO timetable, team and responsibilities
- Transactions including take-overs and mergers & acquisitions
- Role of the Takeover Panel
- Overview of the US market regulations effecting IR
What will I gain?
By attending this course, you will gain
- Foundation knowledge in understanding a set of company accounts
- Fluency in financial jargon
- A clear understanding of the relevance and limitations of financial statements
- An understanding of the key principles behind most commonly used valuation methods
- A grasp of the fundamentals of the discounted cash flow valuation model and key sensitivities
- An awareness of risk and return parameters and non-financial considerations impacting investment decision-making
Who should attend?
- CIR candidates
- IROs with no formal accountancy training, yet have a basic understanding
- Those wanting to understand in more depth how financial analysts and investors assess companies
Course tutor: Deborah Morton-Dare

Deborah specialises in financial training for all levels from beginners to advanced. She presents a comprehensive range of courses to a diverse range of corporate clients and financial institutions and specialises in making complex technical subjects comprehensible.
Deborah qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Young and then worked in Corporate Finance gaining wide ranging experience in a variety of corporate and financial institutions. She then worked as a financial consultant to companies assisting them in raising finance and structuring.
Programme
Module One
- Introduction
- The Accounting Foundations - what is financial information?
- The components of a balance sheet
- The components of a Profit and Loss Account
- Cashflow statements
Module Two
- Introduction
- Fundamental concept of discounted cash flow
- Risk vs return
- Business strategy
- Introduction to valuation methods
- Conclusion: What really matters
What will I gain?
- A good insight into the role of investor relations and the financial market environment in which IR operates
- A thorough understanding of the fundamentals of financial markets
- An overview of the current regulatory environment
- An invaluable opportunity to clarify specific questions through the Q&A session
Course tutor: Deborah Morton-Dare

Deborah specialises in financial training for all levels from beginners to advanced. She presents a comprehensive range of courses to a diverse range of corporate clients and financial institutions and specialises in making complex technical subjects comprehensible.
Deborah qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Young and then worked in Corporate Finance gaining wide ranging experience in a variety of corporate and financial institutions. She then worked as a financial consultant to companies assisting them in raising finance and structuring.
Programme
- Introduction
- Companies
- Financial markets
- Stock exchanges
- Equity investors and investment principles
- Role of IR
- Summary and conclusion
Course tutor: Deborah Morton-Dare

Deborah specialises in financial training for all levels from beginners to advanced. She presents a comprehensive range of courses to a diverse range of corporate clients and financial institutions and specialises in making complex technical subjects comprehensible.
Deborah qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Young and then worked in Corporate Finance gaining wide ranging experience in a variety of corporate and financial institutions. She then worked as a financial consultant to companies assisting them in raising finance and structuring.
What will I gain?
-
A good insight into IR and how to support senior management
- An understanding of the dynamics of financial markets, including the key participants
- A solid understanding of the financial jargon and the sensitivity around disclosure of information
Course tutor: Deborah Morton-Dare

Deborah specialises in financial training for all levels from beginners to advanced. She presents a comprehensive range of courses to a diverse range of corporate clients and financial institutions and specialises in making complex technical subjects comprehensible.
Deborah qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Young and then worked in Corporate Finance gaining wide ranging experience in a variety of corporate and financial institutions. She then worked as a financial consultant to companies assisting them in raising finance and structuring.
Programme
- Introduction to Investor Relations
- An overview of financial markets
- Practical tips for creating value in your role
- Facilitating the investor relations calendar
What will I gain?
- Practical insights into leveraging outside resources and online tools
- A clear understanding of the risks and opportunities of your shareholder register
- How to maximise the support of brokers, sales teams and other providers
- A perspective on the key requirements for effective and efficient investor engagement
Course tutor: Helen Parris

Independent
Helen Parris was formerly Director of Investor Relations at G4S responsible for the Group’s communication with the investment community, providing stock market analysts and shareholders with quality information on a timely basis so the Group can be assessed and valued appropriately by the market. Helen has been voted top IR professional in the Institutional Investor and Extel Pan European Awards for the Support and Business Services Sector. She is a trustee of the G4S plc £2.3bn pension fund.
Helen has 30 years of City experience, covering fund management, investor relations (for media, security and oil and gas companies) and stock-broking. Prior to G4S, Helen was Investor Relations Manager at BG Group, the FTSE 100 oil and gas company. Helen has a BSc in Accounting and Financial Analysis from Warwick University and is a Member of the Society of Investment Analysts.
Programme
- Introduction and developing your targeting strategy
- Understanding Investor trends
- Broker perspective - how to maximise the benefit of using a house broking team
- Using an IR firm effectively
- What the buy-side wants
- Best Practice, new technologies
Course tutor: Lorraine Rees

Lorraine established IR-connect as a new investor relations consultancy in 2015. Prior to that she had been IR Director at Standard Life plc, Head of IR at The Phoenix Group, and an equity analyst at Exane BNP Paribas. She originally trained as a chartered accountant, and has also worked in strategy, corporate finance and banking.
Programme
What is Investor Relations?
The role of an IRO and what makes a successful IR team
IR yearly activities
Tools for IR
Investor Communications
Understanding your shareholders and their investment styles
Conclusion and sandwich lunch
What will I gain?
- A sound understanding of debt investor base and capital structure
- The essentials of developing an effective debt IR programme
- A review of best practice disclosures and presentations
- A firm grasp of the role of rating agencies and their interactions with companies
- An action plan that can immediately be implemented in the workplace
Course tutor: Lorraine Rees - MD, IR-connect

Lorraine established the IR-connect consultancy in 2015 which specialises in IR for IPOs, and personalised IR mentoring for executive and non-executive directors, IR Directors and IROs. She runs a number of courses for the IR Society including the Diploma modules. Prior to setting up her consultancy company, she was IR Director at Standard Life plc, Head of IR at The Phoenix Group, and an equity analyst at Exane BNP Paribas. She originally trained as a chartered accountant, and has also worked in strategy, corporate finance, private equity and banking.
Programme
- Understanding your debt investor base and capital structure
- Rating Agencies
- Benefits of pro-active debt investor engagement
- Development of a Debt IR programme
- Best practice disclosure and presentations
What will I gain?
-
The ability to review an integrated set of P&L, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow forecasts
-
Knowledge of key forecast metrics such as: EBITDA, EBIT, EPS etc.
-
An understanding of the value of financial ratios to evaluate business performance
-
An overview of valuation methodologies, including DCF
Course tutor: James Gilpin

James has been a financial trainer for over 10 years with extensive investment banking and financial training experience. He provides training to graduates and banking professionals in the areas of accounting, corporate finance, capital markets, derivatives, valuation, M&A and financial modelling
After graduating from Cambridge University, James began his career with Arthur Andersen. He later joined HSBC Investment Bank and worked in the Corporate Finance and Advisory Division, assisting in origination and execution of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate finance transactions. Following HSBC, James joined Merill Lynch International. Here he worked in the Investment Banking Division on such matters as takeovers, equity and debt issues, capital structure analysis and corporate risk management.
Programme
- Financial Modelling House Keeping
- The model starting point: An integrated set of P&L, Balance Sheet & Cash Flow forecasts
- Analysis of Business Performance
- An overview of valuation methodologies: Absolute & Relative approaches to valuation
- Discounted Cash Flow
- Relative Valuation approaches
- Putting it all together: A case study
(Attendees will receive an information pack in advance containing the basic model to be used for the course, including historic P&L, Cash Flow and Balance Sheet statements).
What will I gain?
- A comprehensive understanding of SRI issues
- An in-depth review of current and future sustainability trends
- Valuable insight into shaping messages to stakeholders
- Advice on developing an SRI roadshow
Course tutor: Mike Tyrrell - Editor, SRI-CONNECT

Mike has been helping companies communicate with SRI investors for the past 15 years, during which time he has worked on the buy-side, sell-side and most recently for the independent communications platform, SRI-CONNECT. Mike has spent 18 years as an SRI Analyst, initially at Jupiter Asset Management and then at HSBC Global Equities where he established the first SRI research on the ‘sell-side’ and, most recently, at Citi Investment Research. Mike is currently Editor at SRI-CONNECT and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Society’s advanced IR ESG/Sustainability course, introduced in 2016.
Programme
- Introducing sustainable and responsible investment
- Experiences to date | questions for today
- 10 steps to take control of SRI communications
- What investors and companies think of each other
- IRRI survey results
- Summary – final questions; final answers; next steps
What will I gain?
- In-depth insight into the workings of city advisers
- Advice on how best to build stronger relationships with these key stakeholders
Course tutor: Kenneth Lee

Associate Professorial Lecturer at the London School of Economics
Kenneth is an Associate Professorial Lecturer at the London School of Economics where he lectures on financial analysis and equity valuation.
Before academia Kenneth was a Managing Director & Head of European Equity Research at Barclays Capital, where he worked for 8 years before leaving in August 2017 to take up a number of academic positions. Prior to this he was also a Managing Director and a ranked accounting and valuation analyst at Citi Investment Research in London. During this time Kenneth published extensively on accounting and valuation topics for investors and was ranked in the top 3 in the Institutional Investor Survey over more than a continuous 10-year period.
He holds a doctorate from Aston Business School, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, a member of the Institute of Taxation and a CFA Charterholder. He is the co-author of Financial Statement Analysis under IFRS (2018, 6th Ed.) and Company Valuation under IFRS (2020, 3rd ed.).
What will I gain?
- A greater understanding of:
- your natural leadership style and what this might mean for your career development
- the skills and competencies being sought by boards and management teams
- what a best practice IR team looks like and how to lead it
- current thoughts on leadership; particularly helpful for those thinking of taking the Diploma in IR qualification
Course tutor: Jon Harris

Jon’s unique background means that he is ideally suited to helping professionals develop their writing skills. Jon is a Cambridge English graduate, a qualified teacher of adults and an Associate Tutor at Goldsmiths University, where he teaches management at BA and MA level, giving him a deep understanding of the challenges and requirements for effective business writing. He has been commissioned by several IR teams to assist in writing critical communications at times of significant change and has lots of experience helping businesses frame and couch language for both internal and external communications. He has delivered writing skills training for the IR Society for several years and has also trained special-interest professional groups in writing skills, including banks, regulators and government departments. Jon is also a qualified business psychologist and a chartered management accountant.
Course tutor: Sue Scholes
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Sue is a Fellow of the IR Society. She was Chair of the IR Society from 2014 to 2016, during which time the Society launched its Diploma in IR (which she continues to support as an examiner) and its Code of Conduct. She was previously Chair of the Education Committee.
A CIMA-qualified accountant, she first started working in investor relations in the late 1990's, at GKN plc. She was involved in the demerger of its joint venture businesses and the subsequent listing of Brambles Industries plc in London; as well as the late unwinding of this dual-listed company structure. Most recently, Sue spent seven years as Executive Team member and Director of Communications for AMEC plc, during a period of significant and successful transformation.
Sue is a board member at MAC (the Midlands' most visited arts centre) and a Trustee and Treasurer of Re-engage (which brings older and younger people together for social gatherings).
Programme
- Introduction
- What is meant by leadership: review of the theory
- Understanding your personal style
- How to apply your style to lead and influence
- Understanding the leadership skills a board is looking for: advice from a senior head hunter
- Practical advice on leading a best practice IR function: from those who are doing it
- What next: creating your own action / development plan
What will I gain?
- Insight into how to deliver key messages to the market consistently
- Understanding effective messaging via press releases, factsheets, websites and annual reports
- Practical examples of do's and dont's when communicating with stakeholders
- Insights into writing for social media communications
Course tutor: Jon Harris

Jon’s unique background means that he is ideally suited to helping professionals develop their writing skills. Jon is a Cambridge English graduate, a qualified teacher of adults and an Associate Tutor at Goldsmiths University, where he teaches management at BA and MA level, giving him a deep understanding of the challenges and requirements for effective business writing. He has been commissioned by several IR teams to assist in writing critical communications at times of significant change and has lots of experience helping businesses frame and couch language for both internal and external communications. He has delivered writing skills training for the IR Society for several years and has also trained special-interest professional groups in writing skills, including banks, regulators and government departments. Jon is also a qualified business psychologist and a chartered management accountant.
Programme
- Welcome, introduction, objectives and quiz
- The 10 principles of getting your message across
- How to select the best words and avoid the worst ones – part 1
- How to select the best words and avoid the worst ones – part 2
- Press releases, and some examples
- Developing social media communications – quick thoughts
- Case Study 1: constructing a Chair/CEO letter
- Case Study 2: working at speed
- Own material, resource swaps, ideas and next steps
- Summary and evaluation
Course level
Core courses
Location
London
CPD points
40
Course dates
14 June 2022
9.00am
to 4.30pm
15 June 2022
9.00am
to 4.30pm
- IR Society members (£990 + VAT, for both modules)
£1188.00 - IR Society Premium members (course allowance included in membership package)
£0 - Non-members (£1318 + VAT, for both modules)
£1581.60
Discounts for multiple bookings
We offer a 10% discount on course fees when booking two professional development courses, and 20% when you book three or more.Course level
Core courses
Location
London
CPD points
40 per day
Course dates
3 August 2022
9.00am
to 4.30pm
- IR Society members (£990 + VAT, for both modules)
£1188.00 - IR Society Premium members (course allowance included in membership package)
£0 - Non-members (£1318 + VAT, for both modules)
£1581.60