A weekly compilation of news from around the world of investor relations.
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Early Signs Show Positive Reaction to Greek Deal
Governments across the euro area praised a deal reached by European leaders to give Greece more time to deal with its mountain of debt. That sentiment was echoed cautiously by investors even though one rating agency declared the country would be temporarily in default. New York Times
US Appeals Court Strikes Down SEC’s Proxy Access
A US appeals court has rejected a new Securities and Exchange Commission rule designed to make it easier for shareholders to nominate directors to corporate boards. Reuters
UK Minister Unveils Narrative Reporting Split
“The rules on reporting go back to the days of steel nib pens. Of course the information must be available on request in hard copy. But the reality is the internet offers a quicker, better way for many users. I promise our new rules will recognise this.” Chartered Secretary
Global IPOs Show Mixed Results In Q2
Global IPO activity continued improving in the second quarter, but the performance of this year’s foreign-based new issues has been dismal. IBD
Shelved IPOs Create Logjam in Europe
The logjam of initial public offerings is building in Europe, after almost $10bn of flotations were shelved in the first half of the year due to market volatility and investors’ disillusionment with recent listings. FT via CNBC
Canada’s Reformed Class-Action Law Wins Few Friends
A Canadian law designed to make it easier to bring class action suits against companies that mislead investors has all sides frustrated as it faces its first real-world tests. Reuters
Fitch Report Highlights Key Weaknesses in Chinese Companies
Following its competitor Moody’s Investors Service, which had just released a report last week warning of “red flags” at 61 Chinese companies for accounting and governance risks, the global rating agency Fitch Ratings has also highlighted “key weakness indicators” of 35 rated Chinese companies in a recent report. China Briefing
Chinese Web Firms Postpone US IPOs, Cite Weak Markets
The decisions come as a slump in global equity markets has forced several companies to postpone or cancel their IPO plans. Contributing to the weak market sentiment are recent allegations that U.S.-listed Chinese companies have used fraudulent accounting to inflate their books as they listed on U.S. exchanges via reverse takeovers. Reuters
Muddy Waters’ Carson Block: ‘I’m Proud of the Impact We’ve Had’
Block said he was not worried about lawsuits from companies he has targeted, since Muddy Waters was “careful.” He added that he has not been sued by anyone so far. CNBC
Zillow Soars 79% in Its Debut on Nasdaq
Shares of Zillow, the online real estate information company, gained nearly 79% in its debut on the Nasdaq stock market. DealBook
Hedge Fund Net Assets at Record-Topping $2.04 trillion
Despite volatile negative performance, investors poured $29.5 billion into hedge funds in the second quarter, nudging industry-wide assets up 1.1% on a quarter-to-quarter basis to a record $2.044 trillion, according to data from Hedge Fund Research. Pensions & Investments
Soros’s Quantum Holding 75% Cash Leads Hedge Funds Baffled by Instability
About 18% of asset allocators, including hedge funds, are overweight cash, the highest level in a year and up from 6% in May, a Bank of America Corp. survey showed last month. Bloomberg
Fast Traders, in Spotlight, Battle Rules
After quietly growing to account for about 60% of the seven billion shares that change hands daily on United States stock markets, the firms are trying to stave off the regulators who are proposing to curb their activities. New York Times
Building a Good Investor Presentation
Investor relations being a consultative sale, rather than a hard sell, the art here is to make the compelling reasons obvious enough for a reasonably astute investor to grasp without hitting them between the eyes with a two by four. Investor Relations Musings
FTSE100 Companies Increasingly ‘Like’ Social Media
Our latest research shows some big increases in the number of companies using social media since December 2010. The Group Blog
FTSE 100 Companies Opt for Hybrid Online Reports
Hybrid reports use HTML for the front section, while making the accounts at the back available as a PDF or Excel download. IR Magazine
Buy-Side Perspectives on Best Practice IR Websites
A poor IR website fuels more investor frustration than an excellent site prompts satisfaction among its users. Q4 Blog
Why No One Should Believe Apple’s Earnings Guidance
The only thing more consistent at Apple than its ability to generate excitement for new products is its track record of releasing hilariously-conservative financial forecasts that it then easily blows away. Fox Business
Apps Overrated in Mobile Web Wars
As Adobe’s survey of 1,200 North American mobile users suggests, some activities lend themselves to the mobile web-browser model more readily than others. The Register
Consumers Losing Patience With Slow Mobile Web
43% of smartphone users won’t return to a site if it loads too slowly on the handset. Reuters
iPad Trouncing Android in Enterprise
According to Good Technology, which provides mobile device management services to 49 of the Fortune 100 and 182 of the Fortune 500, 27% of the mobile devices activated by its enterprise customers during the second quarter of 2011 were tablets. And more than 95% of those were iPads. AllThingsD
Pam Agnew, ABC is a director of IR Web Reporting International Inc. and an award-winning communicator. She has more than 20 years of corporate and agency experience in investor, crisis, corporate, media, stakeholder and sustainability communications on four continents for leading global companies as well as stock exchanges, securities regulators and large institutional investors.
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