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November 2008

• A 20-year perspective

  
  

• Evolution of IR
  • Changing priorities emphasize financials and legal issues
  • Professional stature still lags in the UK and Europe
  • Right combination of IR skills remains a challenge

  By Adrian Holliday

• Tackling the issues

  IR magazine first made it into print in autumn 1988. Nearly 200 issues later, Tim Human picks out highlights from the magazine’s history

• Letters after our name

  Clare Harrison sorts through communications from some of our long-standing IR contacts

• Now and then
  • Tools of the trade made much better
  • New investor mix is a fundamental shift
  • IRO is investor liaison and advocate

  By Anna Snider

• Vietnamese voyage
  • Boom and bust in Vietnam undermines investor confidence
  • Country’s first investor relations seminar held earlier this year
  • Singapore Exchange leading the region in Vietnamese listings

  By Ben Bland

• Future tense?

  Fay Sanders gazes into her crystal ball to find out what IROs will be doing 20 years from now

• Regular invitation
  • Proxy fights get boards and IROs talking
  • Interaction increasing outside times of crisis
  • A platform with the board enhances a career

  By Adam Piore

• Governance gulf
  • IR know-how imported from the UK and the US
  • Many Middle Eastern companies undervalued
  • Quality of IR is highly inconsistent
  • Huge investment will raise standards

  By Adrian Holliday

• Sector scrutiny
  • Market conditions alter approach to competitive intelligence
  • Increasing amounts of information can make analysis more challenging
  • More tools available to help IR professionals find the data that matter

  By Clare Harrison

• Birthday blues

  Ian Williams looks back at looking forward

• A tale of two banks

  Tim Human's monthly M&A roundup