Investor Relations

IMPLEMENTING BEST PRACTICES IN INVESTOR RELATIONS 147Best practice suggests thatconference calls should be announced by way of an invitation, a pressrelease and posted on the company Web site, specifying the time andnumber to call, even if it is not required by the issuer’s regulations;companies listed on markets in different time zones should take thisinto account, along with the structure of the shareholder base, when settingthe time of the conference call; for instance,conferences in Europe should be scheduled in the afternoon if US analystsare likely to participate. Many companies, however, are reluctantto let the market trade much prior to the call. A well-structuredand really informative press release will help significantly reduce therisks of potential misinterpretation before the call begins;when major events are being announced, conferences should bescheduled after the close of trading.enough time should be preserved for the Q&A session with a view toprovide the most accurate responses possible. You may want to decidein advance who in the executive team will respond to what question.Here again, responses should not include any previously undisclosedprice-sensitive information;each participant should be allowed only two questions in order not tomonopolize air time unnecessarily;never abruptly put a discussion to an end, alleging that time has run out,and always wrap up with a summary of the key messages;gather and analyze feedback on the conference call from call participantsand communicate it to management. This report will also be based on areview of the research published after the call. It will help identify whichmessages were best perceived by analysts and investors, where messagingcan be made clearer, and what opportunities can be captured duringfuture calls.3.6.18 Open DaysThis type of event corresponds to opening company gates to the public, in aparticular site or plant, for retail shareholders, for instance.