Take control of SRI/ESG investor communications

Companies will clearly be driven by their own corporate reporting timetable but should also consider:

• The CSR publication date
• Sector peer group’s plans
• ‘Proxy season’
• Closed period
• Summer holidays
• The key SRI dates calendar

CSR / SRS publication date

It sounds self-evident – but companies should only organise SRI presentations after they have reported their key sustainability data for the year.  So after the publication of their CSR report or their Sustainability Results Statement

• Roadshowing after the CSR report is published ensures that analysts have access to the most comprehensive information set.  However, this is also a very busy period, so turnout can be low.
• By contrast, roadshowing after the SRS is published can focus only on core ‘investable’ data but exploits a less busy time in the SRI calendar.

Sector peer group plans

Both analysts and companies would benefit if SRI roadshows from companies in the same sector were clustered within the same month:

• Analysts would benefit from the ease of comparability;
• Companies would benefit from a raised level of understanding amongst analysts.

To capture this advantage, companies should co-ordinate the timing of their SRI roadshows with that of their sector peers.  See Key SRI dates – sector roadshow periods

Proxy voting season

Some SRI analysts also have corporate governance responsibilities.  For these analysts, the run-up to AGMs is very busy as this is when they discharge their proxy-voting responsibilities.  As a result:

• Mid-March - mid-May is a busy-period (due to companies with December year-ends and May AGMs)
• Mid-June - mid-July is a busy period (due to companies with March year-ends and July AGMs)

Companies’ closed periods

Companies take different views on whether to meet SRI investors during their ‘closed periods’:

• Some have very strict rules and prohibit any investor contact during this period;
• Others argue that, as SRI investors don’t tend to ask about current trading, it makes sense to schedule SRI investor presentations for this time – which is otherwise extremely quiet

This decision will remain an individual choice for each individual company.

Summer holidays

There is little point going to see Scandinavian investors in July or French investors in August.  Beyond that the summer holidays do not make much difference.

Key SRI dates calendar

In planning their SRI communications, companies should pay due reference to the key SRI dates calendar to maximise their chances of responding to multiple interests at the same time.

Other SRI events

Before scheduling an SRI roadshow, companies should check that the date is free by consulting:

• SRI-CONNECT’s Events calendar
• Responsible Investor Agenda
• SRI-CONNECT’s Avoid the Date function