African Investor Relations » IR tools

Benchmark your corporate website traffic

AfricanisCool — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 00:14:10 +0000

Do you monitor your website traffic? If not you should. It’s a valuable indicator of your possible return on investment. I saw a listed company recently in the mining sector. Over US$50m market capitalisation and over 5,000 shareholders. Their monthly website traffic was a massive 71 hits. Given that head of IT checked it daily you have to deduct 22 working days from that, making traffic 49 hits a month or just over 1 a day.

In online investor relations the number of hits is not important. It’s who is hitting your website that is important. If you have comprehensive information online and you get your information out first then you can be sure that your traffic includes the world largest emerging market fund managers and others. One hit can therefore make a difference.

I thought I would summarise our website traffic and provide some basic guidelines for you to compare yours to. Obviously if you are in a different sector, country etc. then the stats that I show may not be relevant to you. Internet penetration in your country may be lower or higher than the countries in which our clients reside. But the stats I show below may be relevant or at least provide some sort of benchmark. We start off firstly with overall country statistics. We have clients in 4 countries and remarkably the average statistics for each are very similar:-

Now we move onto the same statistics but for the number of visitors per month. Here there is greater differentiation:-

Looking at traffic (no. of visits) by sector the statistics are again variable with the telecoms, hospitality, schools and agro-sectors showing the highest traffic. Our clients mostly have pan-African operations or dominant in the industries in which they operate and some of them have large shareholder bases. These parameters should be taken into account. As you will see from other posts of mine the feedback we receive from our clients websites is a good mixture of commercial and investor related, so to use the number of shareholders as an indicator is necessarily correct. Our message is provide an open communications channel and they will come. All sorts of people will come.

Moving to the number of visitors by sector the stats pretty much mirror the visits. Again the utilities, telecoms and diverse agro-businesses all attracting good traffic.

Strategically companies and listed companies should try to capture the identity of this traffic and build an online community over time. This grows into a strategic resource, but the process takes time, so those companies starting sooner than the rest will be ahead of the game in the future.

The other key take away is to monitor what goes on. If you have bad traffic stats then there’s a problem with your content. If you don’t have the ability to identify traffic to your website then you should start. Speak to someone whose business it is to monitor these things.

Sorry one last thing, if your SEO is non-existent then you can have the best site but no-one will know. SEO is not something that is just done. It’s an intuitive process done by experts to ensure that you come up the ranks in Google et al.

Deleting analyst presentation investment data is wrong

AfricanisCool — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 05:29:55 +0000

It’s a common scenario in Zimbabwe for listed companies to have a nice and cozy investment analyst presentation. Then not provide the analyst presentation online or in hard copy to investors. Some companies that do make their information available online delete certain pages of the presentation before they do this. In most cases the key issues discussed in the Q and A session are not disseminated either.

From the CEO’s perspective this is a cop out – tell them everything and then go through the presentation post the event to delete the stuff that is sensitive. Mmmmm…. why not do it at the beginning of the presentation?

Are the brokers efficient at disseminating the information released at analyst presentations. No. Do brokers sell their analyst research online i.e. not make it freely available. Yes. There’s a gap in making information available efficiently to the market and it needs to be addressed.

This is bad corporate governance and is indicative of the absence of a formalised disclosure policy at Board and senior management level. It is also indicative of the absence of disclosure practices regulation in Zimbabwe’s market or at least the awareness of regulation. If the information is only good enough for some and not others, then it should not be good enough to publish at all.

Companies should identify the information that is sensitive, delete it from the presentation in advance and draw up a list of things NOT to say at the analyst presentation and the drinks afterward. Share this list with the management team. It’s basic enough. It’s the right thing to do. It’s good corporate governance.

Beer drinking and analyst presentations

AfricanisCool — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 23:21:00 +0000

Everyday you come from work tired, grab a beer and sit in front of the TV. The you grab another beer and another. This goes on for 20 years. It’s what you do. You grab a beer. You’ve always done it. Everyone knows you grab a beer including your wife and kids so what’s the problem?

The problem is that it’s not right. You should be looking at the garden, playing with the kids, riding your bike, playing squash or taking the dog for a walk. At the end of 20 years you are a fat, lazy beer drinking man with health problems and a dysfunctional family. But what you do everyday seems normal.

My point is it’s not the right thing to do.

The same applies to the practice of releasing earnings during trading hours, a common practice in African markets. It happens, year after year but its not the right thing to do.

Here are some insights:-

Analyst presentations are held during stock exchange trading hours. So what if the stock exchange doesn’t care and the market is illiquid, its wrong. Companies have a moral duty to ensure that information is disseminated equally to the market. There’s really only one time to have a presentation and that’s Friday afternoon. You’ve got the whole weekend for the media and press and brokers to disseminate the information. They need a lot of time because of the inefficiency of the regulators and companies themselves.
The content of what is discussed in analyst presentations is strategic and more often than not, far too much information is given. The invitation from the CEO presenting to speak to any member of the management team about anything is wrong, unless they have been briefed on what can, and cannot be said. And this does not happen. There should be a precis of what was said disseminated through the corporate website or brokers asap after the event. It is fascinating to hear what slips out in the analyst presentation, specific strategies plans, market data, but read the earnings announcement, and the bland rhetorical cliches are the only thing mentioned.

There are so many responses to why these contraventions of good corporate governance practice don’t matter (the market is illiquid, it doesn’t matter anyway…) but the practical difference between doing it, and not doing it, and doing it correctly, is so miniscule that why not just do the right thing? That’s what the stock exchange and corporate governance codes say, and there’s a reason for them to say that.

If you are to release earnings during trading hours publish the event through a conference call played live through your website – they brokers on the trading floor can hear. Still not practical, but there’s always more than one way of skinning a cat.

Just like the beer drinker who gets into bad habits, the long term implications of bad shareholder communications are unseen. Fat lazy companies that don’t look after themselves and therefore their shareholders.

It’s about doing it right. Insurance.

Kenya Parliament’s Bill Tracker loses the Companies Bill, 2008

AfricanisCool — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 00:10:41 +0000

The current 2010 “bill tracker” (a simple PDF file) of the Parliament of Kenya makes no mention of the Companies Bill, 2008, the piece of legislation that formalises electronic shareholder communications in Kenya. This means that the legislation is not on the agenda, and in the absence of the issuance of guidance from the Nairobi Stock Exchange, on electronic shareholder communications, the rights of shareholders are being compromised.

No-one apparently cares at the moment because no-one is giving the issue any thought. The parties at the most risk are the listed companies because at some point in the future a grumpy shareholder or two may not receive their proxy material and they will incur financial loss.

Without being a shareholder in every company it’s difficult to tell what measures listed companies are taking to protect themselves. Probably none. Kenyan directors’ awareness of these issues appears to be non-existent and where there is an awareness the

The attitude of Kenyan directors is that they will comply with the minimum. That’s just not enough because currently there is no minimum. Kenya’s regulators have said that it is up to the companies themselves to set guidelines – there are no minimum standards to guide or support these companies. The majority of listed companies passing resolutions on shareholder communications are doing so without informing their retail or minority shareholders of the full implications. And they have the casting vote.

There are also corporate governance codes to consider, best practices and the intention of the new act. I am not aware of any body that is engaging Kenyan companies on the implications of the Bill. The IOD Kenya needs something to do…..this is it.

I am not privy to whether any professional shareholders are engaging the companies in which they have invested about the efficient receipt of shareholder communications. I can tell you what’s happening though: listed companies are looking after their bigger shareholders by sending them all material directly probably in hard copy. All shareholders have the same rights to this and shareholders should be treated equally. In the absence of a disciplined online shareholder communications practice can listed companies treat one set of shareholders differently to another? They obviously can, but its not right unless these initiatives are carried out within an overall corporate governance framework that is progressive and disciplined.

I think it’s just a matter of time before there’s a dispute.

Bypassing your e-mail limits: How to send large files to others

AfricanisCool — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 03:47:17 +0000

Many of our clients need to send files to us for uploading on their website. Their internal mail systems usually have a limit of between 5mb – 10mb so large files are blocked. There’s a free service on www.sendspace.com that permits you to send large files (up to 300mb) over the internet for free. It is really very easy to use. If you register you can send up to 5 files at once. You upload the file, put in the email address of the recipient and a brief description of the file and then its done.

The bad news is that if you don’t register and the internet goes down during an upload then you have to start again. Remember that you are paying for the bandwidth.

Online data rooms: maximise information flow

AfricanisCool — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 04:50:34 +0000

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

Online charts: excellent way to generate website traffic

AfricanisCool — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 04:42:53 +0000

Online share charts are an excellent way to grow website traffic. The import thing is to ensure that visitors have something to see when they visit your website. Sounds easy? This is the online share chart of Zanaco Bank, one of the top banks in Zambia. It’s share price has risen quite nicely this year on the back of some solid results and a new investor relations campaign:-

Our online charting service is an excellent way to increase general website traffic. Once your investment community realises that your website is always up to date they come back. On average, according to our statistics, at least 5 times a month, thats at least once a week. OK Zimbabwe, another client of ours has also enjoyed a good run on a its share price recently:-

A weekly share price alert is sent out to registrants of our online investor relations platform if required. It’s all about providing investors with choice and with the ability to access functionality and data to enable educated investment decisions.

Sounds easy?

AIC moves into managed corporate websites for non-listed companies

AfricanisCool — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 04:32:08 +0000

I am pleased to announce that African Information Solutions for Companies Online Limited “African Is Cool” is now offering our online managed website services to businesses other than listed companies in Africa.

To request our marketing pamphlet click here.

Our decision to broaden our product outreach has been largely influenced by the feedback we have received by the companies we have dealt, the feedback received from the users of our websites, and our realisation of the significant size of the communities in Africa using the internet. Whilst our online investor relations solution should really be an “add on” to an existing corporate website we have designed and implemented new websites for the majority of our clients and then incorporated our online IR solution – and this has been another indicator of the demand for good interactive websites.

There IS critical mass in Internet use in African markets and we believe significant returns may be gained by companies that identify how to offer their services and products in this arena. The question is how?

A big weakness of the current corporate website is that it is managed by companies themselves. People are busy and they are not well informed. From our anecdotal evidence, we believe that website statistics of some really large organisations that manage their own poorly populated and outdated websites are less than 1/30^th of the traffic that should be going through their websites had their sites been adequately populated and managed. Furthermore, and this is the critical bit, these websites lack the interactivity tools that are able to identify people wanting to do business with their companies. Lastly it’s not possible to grow sustainable relationships with people that companies cannot identify.

The dynamic nature of the web means that companies should outsource the whole aspect of online communications. To be sure, many businesses in Africa do not have the critical mass to employ someone full time in the online communications space. The corporate awareness levels of the issues involved are low. Few executives will realise that it is not “what” to do online but “how” to do it. They also don’t realise that they actually own the greatest strategic asset in an online communications policy: data. A simple example of the demand for online information is our portal of online African annual reports on www.africanfinancials.com – the growth in traffic to this website has been phenomenal as illustrated in the chart below:-

The question is: does your business generate information or data that is of use to a broad range of stakeholders or customers or agents etc. If it does you are sitting on a strategic asset and the internet is the tool you should be using. Who should you deal with?

AIC is well placed to deliver value added solutions in the general corporate space as we have been in the high-end interactive online communications space for some time. Yes, we have specialised in investor relations but we spend a lot of our time communicating with stakeholders rather than investors and this has reiterated the opportunity that the online presence provides. For the past year and a half we have managed the school websites of St John’s Educational Trust: St John’s College and St John’s Preparatory School. Our experience outside of the online IR space has been positive.

It’s not a generalisation to say that there is a high level of discontent with what existing corporate websites are delivering to their owners. It’s easy to do a review oneself to see that all is not well with the typical corporate website. Sites look outdated aesthetically, errors are quick to point themselves out and there is no assurance that any information on the website is actually complete and up to date. No alerts icons appear. Send an email and its not responded to.

In growing our African Is Cool business we have been privileged to have highly competent business partners and have had the time and capital to invest in keeping up to date. As relative newcomers to the Internet we have not been influenced by past structures, habits or technologies and have been able to adopt the latest technologies as they arrive. Our background in database programming has also been of huge benefit.

So who should consider using AIC as their strategic online communications partner? Here are a number of criteria:-

Your business should be one that generates on-going data or information that is of interest to a broad range of users, stakeholders, agents or customers online. Examples would include banks, stock exchanges, agricultural associations, any association, insurance businesses, multi-nationals, commodity traders, agricultural organisations with outgrowers or agents etc.
Your business should be one that has the ability to respond to online traffic / feedback efficiently and be a business whose senior management buy into the concept of online communications.
Your business should be one that seeks to develop a secure, on-going relationship with stakeholders.
Your business should be brand, service or data oriented.
Your business should be one that realises that if “you pay peanuts you get monkeys”. Either you are going to take an online strategy seriously or not. Cheap services will be just that.
Your business should be one that deals with a vendor that has a strong corporate reputation from existing clients.
Your business should agree that it will not be involved in the update of data on an ongoing basis. AIC has a team doing this all day everyday and we know what we are doing.

(African is Cool) has been managing the online investor relations initiatives of 17 listed companies in 5 African markets. Our online investor relations portfolio continues to grow and we are currently rolling out 5 new online investor relations clients in Zimbabwe and Botswana. There is significant scope for listed companies to take their investor communications initiatives online and this potential is matched by the commercial potential in normal commercial activities. Its from this background that we now enter managed corporate websites.

To request our marketing pamphlet click here.

Africansens.com is launched

AfricanisCool — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 13:58:54 +0000

I have written about the inefficient information dissemination practices of African stock exchanges in the past.

The issue of stock exchanges not doing enough for its listed companies should be an agenda item for any listed company in most smaller African markets. The core of the problem as it relates to information dissemination relates to African stock exchange rules permitting hardcopy publication of corporate news / actions as the only dissemination medium.

In this modern day and age, hardcopy only dissemination is just not acceptable given the pervasiveness of the Internet as a communications tool. The absence of awareness at regulatory levels (and governance levels) of the key issues surrounding information dissemination practices is also inexplicable.

There is some good news however. News that we expect to grow in significance.

I am pleased to announce the launch of www.africansens.com, a portal to promote the 100% online dissemination of corporate actions and news for listed companies in Africa. Initially our focus is on providing 100% coverage of listed companies’ corporate announcements in Zimbabwe and this will be extended to Zambia, Botswana, Kenya and Malawi.

Access to the portal is free and is RSS enabled. Users of the site can receive corporate action alerts in their email as soon as they are published online on www.africansens.com. We are currently unable to publish all the content we receive online because we are doing this for free. Users will notice however that African Is Cool clients’ corporate action material will appear online in Africansens in full or at least a link thereto will be available.

We expect www.africansens.com to grow into our largest portal and hope to offer sponsorship / advertising to organisations that want to present their brand to the investment communities interested in African listed equities. Sponsorship funds raised will be re-invested into providing information for free through www.africansens.com.

From an online investor relations perspective, this www.africansens.com initiative complements the many others that we have to get our clients’ message out to the broader investment community. We have two twitter accounts: www.Africanfinancials.com and www.africaniscool.com to complement this and our portal www.africanfinancials.com has over 22,000 annual reports viewed online every month.

We look forward to your feedback.

Influencing perception – levelling the playing field with the media

AfricanisCool — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 02:40:56 +0000

The power of the press in influencing your community on issues pertinent to your industry can be negative. And listed companies can feel powerless. Unless they get out their cheque book and pay for content to be published in the hard copy press to counter the negative press or at least correct it.

Actively building an online community of online media enables you to distribute your message at any time as often as you want at no additional cost.

For example when a bank is accused of fraud in the hardcopy press, they may feel obliged to respond in the hardcopy press at a cost. The press then has the luxury of continuing publication of whatever material that they want without having to get out their cheque books. On the other hand the listed company and its cheque book is forever beholden to the hardcopy press. It eventually ends up where there is no communication from the listed company and people are left with their perceptions. Which are typically negative. Everyone thinks the fraud is larger than it actually is.

Having a targeted online community of online stakeholders levels the playing field for you. Being able to send out whatever information you need to respond to the market at any time, as often as you want, for no additional cost is a powerful tool especially where listed companies have a wide base of stakeholders, a politically important profile and a pan African presence.

African Investor Relations » IR tools

Benchmark your corporate website traffic

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