IR Society News

IR Society News 8 December, 2023

After almost 10 years in our current home in Coleman Street the IR Society will be moving to a new office early in 2024.

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.

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.

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.

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’).

IR Society News Consultation Responses Policy & Positions 24 April, 2023

The IR Society response to this call for evidence indicates that it will be conducting some further member research on current levels of coverage, and also refers to our 2021 MIFID II survey that illustrated the impact on sell-side coverage and quality, the reduced role of corporate broking services and the significant increase in direct interaction between IR departments and investors which has ensued.

IR Society News Consultation Responses Policy & Positions 28 February, 2023

The IR Society response supports the proposals but calls for more flexibility in the way transition plans are published so that companies are permitted to include them in their annual report or other relevant reports (eg sustainability or climate reports), instead of being required to publish them as standalone reports.

IR Society News Consultation Responses 9 February, 2023

The IR Society response to the FRC seeking liaison to help shape the upcoming reforms aimed at increasing shareholder engagement with audit and risk.

IR Society News 23 November, 2022

The IR Society celebrated the annual Investor Relations Society Best Practice Awards dinner at The Landmark, London,on Tuesday 22 November.

IR Society News Consultation Responses Policy & Positions 8 August, 2022

The IR Society response to the Proposed European Sustainability Reporting Standards issued by EFRAG.

IR Society News Consultation Responses Policy & Positions 1 August, 2022

The IR Society welcomed the publication of the ISSB Exposure Drafts IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information, which is based on those developed by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), and called for as much harmonisation and convergence with existing and emerging standards and frameworks in reporting as possible. The Society also noted that international collaboration in the development of any global baseline for sustainability reporting will be essential for the creation of a disclosure system that can be implemented globally with a consistent approach across markets, thereby optimising reporting efficiency for companies falling under multiple reporting regimes. The Society called for flexibility around the location of sustainability-related financial disclosure, provided the core information is still required to be included within the annual report and accounts, and suggested that any sustainability-related disclosure requirements should recognise that reporting entities may not to be able to obtain complete and accurate, or even estimated, data from entities in the value chain that are beyond the reporting entity’s control.

IR Society News Consultation Responses Policy & Positions 1 August, 2022

The IR Society welcomed the publication of the ISSB Exposure Draft IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosure, which is based on those developed by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), and called for as much harmonisation and convergence with existing and emerging standards and frameworks in reporting as possible. The Society also noted that international collaboration in the development of any global baseline for climate reporting will be essential for the creation of a disclosure system that can be implemented globally with a consistent approach across markets, thereby optimising reporting efficiency for companies falling under multiple reporting regimes. The Society called for flexibility around the location of climate-related financial disclosure, provided the core information is still required to be included within the annual report and accounts, and suggested that any climate-related disclosure requirements should recognise that reporting entities may not to be able to obtain complete and accurate, or even estimated, data from entities in the value chain that are beyond the reporting entity’s control.

IR Society News Informed 28 July, 2022

Informed is the quarterly journal of the IR Society, providing a round up of IR Society and industry news and a range of special features on topical IR issues.

IR Society News Consultation Responses Policy & Positions 18 July, 2022

The IR Society responded to the UK’s Transition Plan Taskforce’s call for evidence, supporting the sector-neutral approach and calling for transition plan disclosure requirements to be high level and principles-based, to be underpinned by more detailed non-mandatory guidance (including practical examples). Metrics should be included in such non-mandatory guidance, to give companies the flexibility to determine their own data points / Key Performance Indicators for how they measure progress. The Society called for flexibility around the location of transition plan disclosures, provided the core information is still required to be included within the annual report and accounts, and suggested that any transition plan requirements should recognise that reporting entities may not to be able to obtain data relating to energy usage and emissions from entities in the value chain that are beyond the reporting entity’s control.