Informed 129 – Winter 2025/26
The main feature in this issue of Informed is full coverage of the 2025 Best Practice Awards, including winners, judges comments, photos and a 25th anniversary celebration.
IR Society News
Matt Hall welcomes members in his first Personal View for Informed; the Society introduces new guides on artificial intelligence; Robert Dann and Sarah Wickens summarise the 2025 member survey; Robert Irvin explores key themes from a recent webinar; and Claire Mogford, Jane Henderson and Sarah Bellamy share key takeaways from a recent Masterclass.
Industry News
Looking ahead to the government’s New Year priorities for the City, Liz Cole suggests that these will be concerned above all with financial market reforms, affecting all IR professionals. Other topics covered include the FCA’s consultation on UK equity consolidated tape; the future of AIM; delayed disclosure of inside information; the FRC’s review of corporate governance reporting; clarified NED remuneration; expectations for the AGM season; AI and investor communications; and developments in ESG, taxonomy and sustainability.
Also in the Industry News section, Stacey Parsons considers the FCA’s renewed approach to growth and encourages the IR community to be proactive in preparing for market changes.
IR Notebook
Sallie Pilot summarises a 2025 event series held by the Investor & Issuer Forum and offers practical insights; and Clive Bidwell explains why IROs should take a digital-first approach to reporting.
Best Practice Awards 2025 – special feature
In this section, winners and highly-commended companies are highlighted – with photos, sponsors and judges comments for all of the following self-entry categories:
- Best communication of sustainability (small, mid, large cap)
- Best innovation in IR (small, mid, large cap)
- Best corporate website (small, mid, large cap)
- Best annual report (small, mid, large cap)
- Best IR programme (small, mid, large cap)
For the voted awards, run in partnership with Extel, the winner of each category is determined by the most number of votes. This section includes photos and sponsors for the following categories:
- Best investor engagement
- Best newcomer to IR
- Best investor relations officer (small, mid, large cap)
- Best overall company IR (small, mid, large cap)
Also in this special feature is a two-page celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Society’s awards including a timeline and photos; and a two-page photo-montage of the 2025 Awards.
Professional development
The Society spoke with course tutor Lorraine Rees to get her take on what participants can expect from the ‘Investor Targeting and Engagement’ course; and three recent CIR and ICIR candidates – Luke Findlay, Heinrich Richter and Robin-Ivan Capar reflect on completing the qualification.
In this issue there is also a two-page spread of many of the up-coming professional development courses for 2026 plus details of the Certificate in IR qualification.
Events
Anneka Finnane reflects upon the many successes of the Society’s events programme in 2025 – and gives members a preview of what lies ahead for 2026. Also outlined here are six events to add to your diary for the months ahead.
Services directory
The Informed IR Services Directory features 45 organisations who offer key services to the IR community.
If you have any comments on this issue, or would like to contribute to a future issue of Informed, please email Robert Dann.
Published 5 January, 2026