Investor relations may be obscure, but in modern business they are increasingly important
It is fantastic to see the recognition of IR and its growing importance as featured in this week’s Times article by Patrick Hosking. This is supported by the recent findings from our MiFID II research conducted by The London School of Economics and The University of Glasgow, in conjunction with the IR Society, with MiFID regulation creating both opportunity and challenges for IR.
In the wake of Terry Smith’s recent criticism of Unilever, Patrick Hosking has written an interesting article in the Times highlighting that “the investor relations profession is booming” and that IR “has never seemed as important as it does now”. Hosking reports that IR provides the conduit through which shareholders can convey any concerns about the way the company is being managed, quoting one investor relations chief as saying that “part of the job is to speak truth to power, otherwise the senior management are operating in an echo chamber”. Hosking notes that the verdict from investors is relatively positive and concludes that the investor relations profession is 'only going to get bigger'.
We discussed the findings from our MiFID II research and debated the growing responsibility of IR in our webinar on 27th February. A replay of the events and slides is available to members in the event archive in the member section of our website.
Published 26 January, 2022