African Investor Relations

Many companies spend thousands of dollars in hosting physical data rooms to which buyers, attorneys, advisers and others are required to visit to digest transactional information. Virtual Data Room (VDR) services provide an online repository of data and enables parties to view documents relevant to a particular transaction for authorised users. This saves time and money.

Documents are stored in electronic format on a central server and accessed via the Internet. VDRs are secure and confidential virtual meeting rooms where buyers, attorneys, accountants and other professionals can review sensitive documents.

The AIC team assumes responsibility for the entire process from start to finish. If you can point and click with a mouse, then you have all the technical skills necessary for the AIC Data Room. In as little as a few hours, AIC can replicate your corporate brand and provide identified users access to the secure data room through our  award-winning online communications technology.

AIC uses the “Software as a Service” (SaaS) model meaning there are no delays, IT headaches or costly software installations.

Just open your web browser and login, it’s that easy!

In short the AIC data room provides:-

1. Secure access provided to sensitive documents anytime, anywhere

2. Limit who sees what

3. Knowledgeable customer and technical support 24/7

4. Quick setup

5. Detailed reporting

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We offer an interactive online investor relations service for listed companies in Africa. How interactive is interactive?

The pie chart below is the annual summary of the categories of feedback we have received through our clients’ investor relations website. It’s notable that the investor relations function encompasses all aspects of business. I reiterate the definition of investor relations below:-

“Investor relations is a strategic management responsibility that integrates finance, communication, marketing and securities law compliance to enable the most effective two-way communication between a company, the financial community, and other constituencies, which ultimately contributes to a company’s securities achieving fair valuation.”

(Adopted by the NIRI Board of Directors, March 2003.)

What also stands out is the ease at which this feedback is accumulated through our InvestorPass™ software. Bill Picken, my mentor for many years, always had two sayings that to this day have influenced me in my professional life. The first: “remember we are always in a circus, you just have to chose your role. Do you want to be the clown, a spectator or the lion tamer? But always remember you are in a circus”. The second, which relates to this blog, is “never invest in anything that eats whilst you sleep”. Good investment advice indeed.

The beauty of our business model is that our investor contact lists grow whilst we sleep. Investors from around the World visit our clients’ websites, register to receive information, automatically receive company news and EVERY time they do, they get the opportunity to tell us what they think. The result: the chart above. So merging investor relations into corporate strategy provides significant commercial value. That’s what we are about.

Which brings me to my key points in this annual client feedback review:

• Shareholder administrative issues take up a much higher proportion than expected. We suspect (we know) that transfer agents are not doing their jobs properly or at least do not have effective communications channels in the markets in which our clients are resident.
• The business development category accounting for 8% of total feedback probably accounts for the 90% of the value of feedback. The deal flow that comes through our websites, for certain of our clients is significant and tangible. I wonder whether those companies with the traditional info@contactus.com addresses get the same level of feedback.

For the rest, it’s the usual opportunities that present themselves: hiring better staff, procuring goods at lower costs etc. It’s all good. Or is it? How much feedback is irresponsible or spam? Basically none. Even if there was we have “vays and means” of finding out who it is and blocking it.

There’s another element of advantage from having a decent online investor relations presence. That’s investor outreach. Here’s our top 4 clients stats for the number of country visitors to their respective online IR websites:-

This diversity of investor and stakeholder interest adds just another element of comfort and pride about the value we add to clients.

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