News and views

IR Society News Industry News 22 November, 2023

At Tuesday night’s annual Investor Relations Society Best Practice Awards dinner at the Royal Lancaster, London, the IR Society celebrated the achievements of those companies demonstrating their commitment to delivering best-in-class investor and stakeholder communications.

Industry News 17 November, 2023

The new QCA Corporate Governance Code was published on 13th November.

Industry News 17 November, 2023

The FRC’s latest Annual Review of Corporate Governance Reporting has found ongoing improvements in the quality of reporting against the UK Corporate Governance Code, but also identifies areas where many companies are still falling short.

IR Society News 10 November, 2023

The results of the Member Survey, conducted in September every year, are incredibly important in underpinning our planning for the year ahead. Thanks once again to everyone who completed the survey.

8 November, 2023

The FRC has announced that most of its proposed revisions to the Corporate Governance Code will either be scrapped or postponed, in light of the Government's recent withdrawal of the proposed new UK reporting requirements for large companies, and the omission of the Audit Reform Bill from the King's speech this week.

Industry News 1 November, 2023

The FRC Lab has issued a series of reports looking at how companies can improve their reporting by taking a more focused, strategic approach to assessing materiality.

Industry News 25 October, 2023

The Government's anticipated call for evidence has now been issued, seeking views on the costs, benefits and practicalities of Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions reporting in the UK, to help inform the government’s decision on whether to endorse the ISSB standards in the UK. It also investigates the current SECR framework to inform a Post-Implementation Review of the policy.

Informed 24 October, 2023

This issue of Informed included a feature on market reform, which covered regulatory and demographic changes that will affect IROs in the years ahead.

20 October, 2023

The size limits for reporting under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) have been increased, so fewer companies will now be caught.

Industry News 18 October, 2023

Government withdraws annual resilience statement, fraud detection/prevention statement and triennial audit and assurance policy (AAP).

IR Society News Consultation Responses Policy & Positions 5 October, 2023

This IR Society response draws on the findings from the ESG data/ratings survey carried at Easter this year among our IRO Members, which illustrate a level of dissatisfaction with the current quality of engagement between companies and ESG data and ratings agencies. We hope this principles-based Voluntary Code of Conduct that is being developed for providers of ESG data and ratings will be helpful for our members, given the amount of time/resource IR departments currently spend dealing with these agencies.

IR Society News Consultation Responses Policy & Positions Research & Surveys 13 September, 2023

In this IR Society response, which draws on the findings from recent member research on the FRC's proposals of most relevance to IROs, the Society is generally supportive of the proposed reforms, but calls for more flexibility and less prescription in certain areas, for example, audit committee oversight of narrative and sustainability reporting given many corporates already have a sustainability committee. The Society expresses support for increased transparency around malus and clawback arrangements, although calls for more clarity around disclosure of their ‘usage’. The Society also identifies several areas where more detailed guidance would be helpful, including ‘good’ outcome reporting, ‘significant’ appointments for ‘over-boarding’ disclosures, audit committee engagement with shareholders and oversight of narrative/sustainability reporting.

Research & Surveys 28 July, 2023

2023 member survey provides insights on Investment Research and the FCA's Listing Rule proposals.

Informed 24 July, 2023

The main feature in this issue is a full report on the 2023 conference, Dynamic IR: Staying authentic & managing on-going structural change.

IR Society News Consultation Responses Policy & Positions 30 June, 2023

In this IR Society response, which draws on the findings from recent IRO member research on the FCA's proposed changes to the Listing Rules and on current levels of investment research in the UK, the Society was generally supportive of the proposed reforms given most IRO respondents thought the FCA proposals would reduce regulatory barriers for companies and bolster UK competitiveness. However, the Society highlights concern that a lack of shareholder approvals for major transactions could lead to significant legal and advisory costs in the early days, until a more streamlined approach based on successful transactions establishes best practice, and that a generous transition period could be needed for current standard listings to allow them to comply with the more onerous ‘single category’ continuing obligations. The Society also mentions that liquidity, depth of markets, and comparable peers are thought of by IRO respondents as the most important factors in deciding where to list the proposals, with regulation and valuations also seen as significant factors. The response also highlights some more significant issues that the Society believes may also influence the attractiveness and competitiveness of the London markets, including the UK market’s sensitivity to Directors' remuneration and compensation structures, the quality and timeliness of Investment Research, the need to encourage funds flow into UK asset managers, the suggestion of establishing a framework that better enables companies to identify all short-sellers so that they can engage with them (if they wish), and the UK’s overlapping disclosure and filing obligations which could benefit from being streamlined and simplified.

IR Society News Consultation Responses Policy & Positions 30 June, 2023

In this IR Society response, which draws on the findings from recent IRO member research on ESG data and ratings, which underline the importance of ESG ratings to corporates, illustrate a level of dissatisfaction with the quality of engagement between companies and ratings agencies, and indicate strong support for their regulation (90% of respondent IROs think they should be regulated by the FCA). The response also: • recommends that the UK regime is based on recommendations from IOSCO, to avoid regulatory arbitrage across jurisdictions; • calls for consistency and harmonisation with overseas equivalent regulations eg the EU’s recently published Proposal for regulating ESG ratings providers; and • recommends an appropriate transitional period, a phased approach so that smaller agencies have a longer transition period and an ongoing initial ‘start up’ period for new providers.

IR Society News 30 June, 2023

The Investor Relations Society (the Society) is pleased to announce that Douglas Radcliffe, Group Investor Relations Director at Lloyds Banking Group and former Deputy Chair of the Society has assumed the role of Chair

IR Society News Research & Surveys 14 June, 2023

Recent survey of IRO members provides insight into their experiences with ESG data and ratings agencies.

IR Society News Industry News 5 May, 2023

Katya Gorbatiouk of the London Stock Exchange outlines her thoughts on the direction of travel for sustainability communications, the key areas where transparency is expected by capital providers and the implications for the mission-critical role of the IR function.

IR Society News Industry News 3 May, 2023

The IR Society, the UK’s professional body for investor relations practitioners, today launches its 23rd Annual Best Practice Awards (the ‘Awards’).