UK-BASED Software Radio Technologies (SRT) has won an innovation award from online investor community Stockopedia for using live video to reach out to the company’s retail shareholders.
Readers will recall that we had high praise for SRT CEO Simon Tucker’s casual and unscripted “live TV” shareholder event at the end of January. We said the unedited nature of the video stream, along with Tucker’s easy-going demeanor and product demonstrations added a rare authenticity and credibility to the AIM-listed company’s story.
SRT CEO Simon Tucker during the January video webcast
Now Stockopedia, a UK-based online investor community that advocates for the use of technology to level the playing field for retail investors and smaller companies, has awarded the company its Q1 2011 Web Investor Relations Innovation Award.
In an article yesterday, Stockopedia co-founder Dave Brickell, who is a contributor to IR Web Report, said the marine communications technology firm’s open approach to IR “puts much larger FTSE 100/250 companies to shame” and will hopefully prove an inspiration to others.
Stockopedia advocating for UK market changes
Of course, the award is largely symbolic and is rooted in a growing concern among retail shareholder advocates in the UK that the markets and IR practices there are tilted in favor of large institutional investors, to the detriment of smaller companies and retail investors.
Earlier this month, Stockopedia published a whitepaper in which they urged the UK government to address structural problems in the small-cap and venture markets by using low-cost web technologies and social media to improve access to management, and by providing tax incentives for small-cap investors.
Says Brickell: “UK retail stock market investors get a very rough deal in terms of management and information access compared with their institutional cousins, and this disparity has — in our view at least — contributed to the culture of short term speculation, momentum investing and obsession with dubious technical analysis that exists amongst parts of the retail investing community.”
IR Web Report was founded on a steadfast belief that the Internet has the potential to reduce information asymmetries, facilitate capital formation, and improve investor protection at the same time. We wholeheartedly support Stockopedia in its advocacy and endorse its recognition of SRT.
Dominic Jones (bio) created IR Web Report in 2001. He is a consultant to leading public companies and investor relations service providers worldwide. You can contact him via the contacts page.
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