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« March 2010 |
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| May 2010 »
ProLogis’ investor relations team are keenly anticipating Earth Day, which falls tomorrow on April 22. No, not because Avatar is being released on Blue-ray DVD. Rather, they are excited because the company is using Earth Day to launch its latest corporate responsibility (CR) report.
The CR report, once dismissed as corporate fluff, is now an important part of many investor-targeting strategies. To meet the criteria for inclusion in sustainable investment funds, a lot of detailed information is required, and here the CR report provides a valuable service.
What’s more, the amount of assets managed by CR-focused investors is on the up, noted ProLogis’ head of IR, Melissa Marsden, during a webinar yesterday. ‘They are becoming a force to be reckoned with,’ she added.
Other issuers seem to agree. CorporateRegister.com, an online CR resource, says 3,764 standalone reports were produced across the world in 2009, up from 3,408 in 2008 and 3,011 in 2007.
With climate change risk an ever-hotter topic (and now a suitable issue for inclusion on shareholder resolutions in the US), 2010 is likely to be another record year for CR reporting.
-To hear the webinar, visit the IR magazine website.
-Read about Vodafone’s award winning CR report.
Tim Human
IR magazine
If you want something done, it’s best to do it yourself. Such advice could be offered to Xavier Rolet today after the London Stock Exchange’s chief executive bemoaned the lack of retail participation in the UK’s capital markets.
‘One of the distinguishing features of the UK market, if you compare it to our European neighbors and frankly also our neighbors to the west in the United States, is the relative underrepresentation of private, retail investors,’ he told delegates at the UK IR Society’s annual conference.
‘It is much more difficult for them in terms of costs, in terms of availability of electronic broking venues. We believe this is one of the reasons why liquidity in the UK markets is significantly underdeveloped.’
To be fair to Rolet, he did bring in a retail trading platform for bonds in February this year, a point he made during his speech.
But on the question of retail equity investment, all Rolet had to say was: ‘We believe there is still much more to do in terms of providing new tools, particularly electronic, transparent, liquid and neutral tools.
‘We’ve started to take action, and I expect over the coming months we will introduce new initiatives to make access to equity markets easier for retail investors.’
Let’s hope some of these initiatives take a more concrete form soon. If Rolet can’t offer a solution, who will?
Tim Human
IR magazine
News that Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith has decided to appoint US private equity fund Blackstone to find a buyer for her 15.9 percent stake in Arsenal raises questions over the future ownership of the club and could mark the end of the last English football giant in public ownership.
Bracewell-Smith is the fourth largest shareholder and her decision to sell could mark a return to the intrigue that has pitted Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov against Stan Kroenke, the US sports franchise mogul. As yet she has not attempted to sell piecemeal on PLUS Markets, the specialist trading venue on which Arsenal’s shares are traded. This would have meant breaking up a tactically important stake in a desirable concern.
A buy-out of Arsenal by Kroenke or Usmanov would mark yet another twist in the increasingly international make-up of club ownership and a further stock market de-listing. Listed British clubs are now a rarity. The majority that listed did so in the mid-to-late 1990s following lucrative broadcasting deals with Sky. However these were hit by initial over-valuations and a lack of profitability, due in part to inflated player wages. Moreover the decision by clubs, such as Manchester United, to raise money by floating on exchanges has led to buyers swooping on these saleable commodities. Manchester United de-listed in 2005 following the successful (but highly unpopular) takeover by the Glazer family.
Consequently only a handful remain on the market. Arsenal and Tottenham represent the largest of these and are joined by Millwall and Preston North End in the lower leagues. For listed teams outside the elite Premier League investor relations does not seem to enjoy the same level of prominence displayed in other sectors. Preston North End’s investor information is woeful. I assumed for an hour they had de-listed but an interview I discovered with their chairman seemed to suggest otherwise. Comparatively Millwall actually possesses a site, and it was easy enough to find, but it hardly presents a milestone for attractiveness. Given that the majority of the small shareholders at such clubs are fans (the financial lifeblood and the teams raison d'être), it comes as a surprise that there is not a greater attempt to reach out via user-friendly IR sites to answer investor queries, or at the very least to encourage dialogue between the board and stake-holding supporters.
David Hatt
IR magazine
‘Got Milk?’ goes the advertising slogan. Increasingly, investors are responding in the affirmative, as the price of milk edges up.
The situation is one example of pricing power coming into play following the downturn. As competitors thin out, investors are looking for industries where the remaining players can flex their pricing muscles.
One example is the dairy market. Here’s Matterley’s take on it, from the UK fund’s March commentary.
‘It is with a degree of sadness we report that one dairy farm goes out of business every day and this has meant that, as a nation, we are producing less milk today than at any time in the last 40 years. It is our view that ongoing falling supply will bring about improved pricing in the coming years to the incumbent players.’
Tim Human
IR magazine
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