
European investment pros mixed on social media
AMID the hype that often surrounds the use of social media in investor relations comes a new survey that provides a valuable dose of reality on the adoption of new media by European investment professionals.

Nordic firms embracing web optimized annual reports
DESPITE having some of the highest rates of Internet use in the world, Nordic public companies still spend a huge proportion of their investor relations budgets on printed annual reports — even though there is growing evidence that investors seldom read them.

Earnings calls “intrinsically public,” says transcript service
SEEKING Alpha CEO David Jackson, whose company ranks as the largest provider of free earnings call transcripts, says companies have no grounds to claim copyright over their calls.

Swatch sues Bloomberg, opens can of worms
SWISS watch company Swatch Group AG is suing Bloomberg for distributing a recording and transcript of its latest earnings call, but the case could have unintended consequences for the company and its European peers.

UK analysts to IR: Stop sending us bumf!
EQUITY analysts in the UK say they are tired of companies using the London Stock Exchange’s Regulatory News Service (RNS) to send them non-market moving information, the Financial Times reports.

Investors applaud CEO’s “live TV” webcast
UK-BASED Software Radio Technology (SRT), which trades on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market for smaller companies, is being lauded for breaking new ground in its investor relations efforts by hosting a live video webcast to answer questions from retail investors.

Twitter most popular with FTSE 100 companies
TWITTER is the most popular social media service among FTSE 100 companies while Facebook and corporate blogs are least popular, a survey by UK-based corporate web development firm The Group has found.

Study: Analysts expect more from Turkish IR websites
A STUDY has found a gap between what financial analysts rate as most important and what companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) actually provide on their investor relations websites.

Swedish IROs still skeptical about social media
EARLIER this week, I attended a lunch seminar “IR Excellence: Risks and opportunities in a digital world,” hosted by the Swedish IR association (SIRA), in cooperation with Cision, Grayling and Setterwalls.
Research points to lack of level playing field in Europe
A TEAM of German researchers from Goethe University Frankfurt have published a study that finds evidence to suggest that corporate executives are sharing material, non-public information in private earnings calls and conferences with select groups of invited analysts.
UK investors get a new, half-baked disclosure database
INVESTORS in UK issuers have a new central online repository for disclosure documents to help them with their research – but the new “national storage mechanism” is useless if you want timely alerts about new disclosures.

How Aviva uses Twitter for earnings announcements
LAST week’s post about 10 companies that used Twitter as part of their recent quarterly earnings announcements generated a lot of interest, so we thought we’d look at one company that we didn’t mention because their activity occurred after we compiled the list.

Will Europe ever get its own EDGAR?
EUROPEAN Union securities regulators last week put out a paper on creating a central disclosure system — but with so many vested interests to placate it seems implausible that investors will soon have a single gateway to EU securities filings.