Activists in Action

9 June 2017

Activists in Action – May 2017

FIRST Advisers has been fairly vocal for the past two years about the rise of activism in Australia and in particular the risk of offshore activists moving into this market given its ‘activist friendly’ regulatory environment. Because we frequently act for one of the parties in an activist campaign, we are closer than most to what is happening in this space and monitor it daily. It would probably surprise many in the market to know that during May there were around half a dozen campaigns on foot. This segment will keep you updated each month on live activist campaigns and short attacks in Australia – who the players are, what the campaign is seeking to achieve and the outcome. We’d love to hear your feedback over coming months …

Praemium’s activist shareholders succeed in replacing members of its Board and re-appoint Michael Ohanessian as its CEO. The activist shareholders included institutional investors Australian Ethical Investments, Paradice Investment Management and the Abercombie Group.

Elliott Management Corporation, one the world’s largest activist hedge funds, announced it will support a current director of BHP as its next Chairman despite reservations about its top management. It also called for BHP to spin off its US oil business.

1-Page shareholders voted for the removal of Joanna Riley as a director of the company. Shareholders did not support her own bid to remove the incumbent directors or the appointment of her proposed directors.

Sandon Capital and Ron Brierley’s Mercantile Investments requisitioned Fleetwood Corporation for a General Meeting to put forward proposals to change the company’s Constitution, including its dividend policy.

Central Petroleum received a requisition for a General Meeting by ten of its shareholders seeking to replace three of four directors on the Board and opposing the company’s acquisition by Macquarie Group. The dissident shareholders have indicated that they have secured the backing of 25% of the register to vote against the acquisition of Central Petroleum which needs to be endorsed by 75% of shares on issue. Central Petroleum’s CEO, Richard Cottee has threatened to resign if the dissident shareholders takeover the board.

Bellamy’s finally announced its new Board, appointing activist investor Janchor Partner’s John Ho as Chairman and appointing John Murphy as its third independent non-executive director. Murphy joins Chan Wai-Chan and Rodd Peters who were both appointed to the Board following Black Prince Foundation’s successful campaign in February to achieve Board renewal.

Shareholders of Spark Infrastructure voted against appointing dissident shareholder, James Dunphy, to the Board. This was Dunphy’s second attempt, having mounted a vocal campaign against the Board in 2016.

Molopo continues its battle to prevent shareholders, Keybridge Capital and Aurora Funds from seizing control of the Board. ASIC and the Takeovers Panel agreed to its request to postpone its AGM until June 20. The Takeovers Panel ruled on 31 May that while Keybridge and Aurora could not be said to be acting in concert, some of their actions gave rise to ‘unacceptable circumstances’. The ruling is not final and both Molopo and Keybridge are requesting a review.

FIRST Advisers has acted, or is continuing to act for, one of the parties in the Praemium, 1-page, Bellamys and Molopo campaigns.

Short Reports

Viceroy Research published a short report on Quintis, accusing it of questionable accounting practices. This is Viceroy’s second short attack in Australia, following its report on Syrah Resources published in January 2017. This month Syrah’s CEO fought back, asking regulators whether short sellers could be held responsible for the accuracy of their statements (answer – No). Syrah’s stock is down 13% since the beginning of the year.

Glaucus Research, which published the first short report on Quintis in March saying it was raising capital to pay off debt and had a “Ponzi-like” structure, said it continues to look for ‘rotten apples’ in Australia. Quintis stock has fallen 80% since Glaucus released its report.

28 November 2024

2024 a year of predictable unpredictability

Giles Rafferty
Activism, AGM, All, Analytics, compliance, Cybersecurity, ESG, Perception Study

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XCEND, a new force in Australian small to mid-cap registry services

Giles Rafferty
All, compliance, Registries

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Giles Rafferty
Activism; ESG, AGM, All, Disclosure, shareholder

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The shape of activism in Australia

Victoria Geddes
Activism, All, Governance

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Giles Rafferty
All, compliance, ESG, Reporting

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Australian Activism – have we seen peak ESG activism?

Victoria Geddes
Activism, All, ESG, GOVERNANACE

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director We have been tracking the evolution of activism in Australia for the past 10 years and it would be fair to say that in recent years there has been a high expectation that we would see an acceleration in ESG campaigns as Sustainability Reporting became increasingly mainstream. This has not proved […]

ASX Compliance – Avoiding the Tendentious and Intemperate

Giles Rafferty
ASX Listing, compliance, Disclosure, IR

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What to do if you suffer a cyber security data breach

Giles Rafferty
All, Corp Comms, Cybersecurity, media relations

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communication and Media Advisor It feels more like ‘when’ and not ‘if’ companies will face data breaches. In the last week, reports are emerging of a hacker trying to sell data from 30 million Ticketek customers following the announcement of a data breach by Ticketek on 31 May 2024. With the growing […]

Investor Targeting and RORI Analysis

SALONI SURI
AccessIR, All, Investor Targeting, IR, IR. Analytics

SALONI SURI, Shareholder Analytics and Investor Relations An important task within a company’s Investor Relations function is identifying new investors who could become potential shareholders. An analysis of a company’s share register will give an Investor Relations Officer, (IRO), a good snapshot of who their current shareholders are at a single point in time but […]

Designs on Annual Reporting

FIRST Creative
All, Annual Report, Best Practice, Reporting

IT IS TIME TO THINK ABOUT ANNUAL REPORTS and then to think again. While an Annual Report must include content required by the Corporations Act and the ASX listing rules, that doesn’t mean we should limit our thinking to just meeting that objective. It is right and proper for the compulsory materials, such as the […]

Engaging with Proxy Advisors

Giles Rafferty
AGM, All, Governance, Proxy Solicitation, Shareholder Engagement

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communications and Media Advisor AGM season may seem a long way off for many ASX listed companies but June and July are prime time for engaging with Proxy Advisors in advance of the peak months of AGM season, between October and November. Proxy advisors play a vital role in helping inform investment […]

Institutional Voting at AGM’s and the Value of Vote Tracking

SALONI SURI
AGM, All, Governance, Voting

SALONI SURI, Shareholder Analytics and Investor Relations The Scenario We’ve all seen it; a company in the midst of a contentious voting situation at an AGM with management nervously waiting on the final proxy vote count. Less than 48 hours before proxy voting is due to close, a significant portion of the total votes are […]

Companies trending to earlier results reporting

Neel Porwal
All, IR, Reporting

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Managing Cyber security risks

Giles Rafferty
All, Corp Comms, Cybersecurity, media relations

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PERCEPTION STUDIES SUPERCHARGE INVESTOR RELATIONS

Ben Rebbeck
All, Best Practice, IR, Perception Study, Shareholder Engagement

BEN REBBECK, Executive Director IR teams put a lot of work into communicating their company’s investment case, so it is important to assess if this investment case is being understood and valued by investors. One of the best ways to do this is through third-party perception research. Showing that a company’s investment case is being […]

Key Issues for Proxy Advisors in 2024

Giles Rafferty
AGM, All, Shareholder Engagement, Voting

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Maximising access to the capital markets

Victoria Geddes
All, Capital Raising, Investor Targeting, IPO, IR. Analytics, Perception Study, Proxy Solicitation, Shareholder Engagement, SPP

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Winds of change – AASB draft climate standards

Giles Rafferty
All, Best Practice, Disclosure, ESG, Reporting

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2023 a year of headwinds, inflation, and continued rate hikes

Giles Rafferty
AGM, All, ESG, Guidance, Investor Tracking, Proxy Solicitation, Reporting, Voting

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White Paper on Australia/NZ ESG Reporting Practices in 2023

admin
All, Best Practice, ESG, Reporting

VICTORIA GEDDES, Investor Relations For the past 3 years FIRST Advisers has been tracking Australian companies preparedness for the task of reporting on their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG). This was in response to the obvious momentum that was building globally around the impact of climate change as well as growing evidence attributing superior performance […]

Same Day Reporting Hits 8 Year High

SALONI SURI
All, Annual Report, Best Practice, Reporting, Same Day Reporting

SALONI SURI, Shareholder Analytics For several years, First Advisers has been tracking trends in Same Day Reporting by ASX300 companies, which we define as releasing an Annual Report and Financial Results on the same day. The practice of providing an Annual Report on the same day as a companies’ results has become a KPI for […]

Key trends leading into the 2023 AGM Season

Tom Warner
AGM, All, ESG, Shareholder Engagement

TOM WARNER, Shareholder Analytics & Engagement As we head into AGM season, the trends that emerged in 2022 look set to stay in 2023, with investors and proxy advisers continuing to focus on Remuneration, Climate Change, Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) issues and Board Composition. Remuneration Reports In 2021, 27 companies (9% of the ASX300) […]

Proxy Management and the Value of Vote Tracking

Tom Warner
AGM, All, Shareholder Engagement, Voting

TOM WARNER, Shareholder Analytics & Engagement Over the past few years, there has been a substantial shift in the number of investor stewardship codes which have called for investors to become more active owners. Stewardship codes typically provide a blueprint on how investors can encourage companies to incorporate and maintain good corporate governance, including adopting […]

Approach to Guidance in 2023 and Same Day reporting

Victoria Geddes
All, Guidance, IR, Reporting, Same Day Reporting

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director Over the past four months we have monitored companies in the ASX 300 Index reporting their full year results. Around 70% of companies in the S&P/ASX 300 index released their results for FY23 during August 2023. Companies return to providing guidance The majority of companies (81%) reporting their full year results this year […]

Can ESG survive the political pushback?

Ben Rebbeck
All, ESG, NIRI, Reporting

BEN REBBECK, Executive Director Over the last 18 months institutional investors have been struggling to grasp two conflicting forces which, if not managed well, could cause significant ramifications for how listed companies engage with and access capital. Investors desires to embed ESG standards and principles in their disclosure are in opposition to ‘anti-woke’ regulations which […]

The final countdown to adoption of ISSB climate related disclosures in Australia

Tom Warner

TOM WARNER, Shareholder Analytics & Engagement On 26 June 2023, following a year and a half of intensive consultation, the International Sustainability Standards Boards (ISSB) released its first two Sustainability Disclosure Standards: IFRS S1 and IFRS S2. FIRST Advisers wrote about the new standards in our ISSB Releases Inaugural Global Sustainability Disclosure Standards blog on […]

SEC decision makes APAC companies’ access to US Institutions more difficult

Ben Rebbeck
AccessIR, All, IR. Analytics, MiFiID II

BEN REBBECK, Executive Director This month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) let expire a long-standing ‘no-action’ letter regarding the European Union’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (“MiFID II”) provisions relating to research. This action by the SEC is set to further increase the challenges Australian and Southeast Asian companies face in […]

The emergence of AI in Investor Relations

Ben Rebbeck
All, Disclosure, Governance, IR

BEN REBBECK, Executive Director The use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in Investor Relations has the potential to revolutionise communication with institutional and retail investors, by streamlining processes, enhancing decision-making capabilities, and ultimately optimising Investor Relations (IR) outcomes. However, before considering the impact of AI on IR, it is crucial to reflect on the role […]

ISSB releases Inaugural Global Sustainability Disclosure Standards

Victoria Geddes
All, Best Practice, ESG, Reporting

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director On 26 June 2023, the ISSB (International Sustainability Standards Board) issued its inaugural standards – IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 – after 18 months of intensive consultation and research. Over the past five years, sustainability factors have become increasingly mainstream in investment decision making and they are central to how companies […]

Using ASX Guidance Note 8 to Manage Earnings Surprises

ROWAN CLARKE
ASX Listing, Disclosure, Guidance, IR, Reporting

ROWAN CLARKE, Investor Relations Companies with a June year-end are entering a busy time, as they prepare to report their full year earnings. In parallel, the market is constantly forming a view of what those earnings will be. Consequently, there may be a need for a company to take action if the market’s expectations of […]

How to identify which retail brokers are trading my company’s shares

SALONI SURI
All, Investor Tracking, IR. Analytics, Shareholder Engagement

SALONI SURI, Shareholder Analytics An important question many IR professionals ask is – who are the owners of their company’s shares, and who is trading those shares? Using Beneficial ownership analysis, we can help identify the investors that hold a company’s shares. However, when it comes to trading by retail shareholders, identifying the brokers who […]

Trends in Activism*

Victoria Geddes
Activism, All, ESG, Governance

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director Until recently Australia was consistently ranked second behind the US in terms of the number of activist campaigns launched each year. Up until 2018 the number of companies subject to activist demands would average around 65, a number that rocketed to just over 80 in 2018 and 2019. Over the past […]

TCFD’s place in the ESG Continuum

ROWAN CLARKE
All, Best Practice, Disclosure, ESG, Governance, Reporting

ROWAN CLARKE, Investor Relations As the investment community increasingly uses ESG information, there has been growing pressure for ESG frameworks and standards to evolve. The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) is currently finalising a requirement for companies to report on their climate-related risks and opportunities, with a decision expected in June 2023. The Task Force […]

Financial Reporting post COVID

Adityan Anil
All, Best Practice, IR, Reporting

ADITYAN ANIL, Shareholder Analytics A key event in any company’s IR Calendar is the reporting of their financial results. This occurs twice a year and requires all ASX listed companies to publish financial results that cover a six- and twelve-month timeframe. The ASX Listing Rules give companies discretion on when they choose to publish their […]

‘Pass-Through’ proxy voting

admin
All, Shareholder Engagement, Voting

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communications and Media Pass-through proxy voting gives investors of index and other passively managed funds the opportunity to vote the shares they hold at company meetings. Until recently, the fund manager would vote on behalf of their underlying investors in accordance with the voting guidelines for the fund they managed. The ability […]

Travelling at the speed of change, 2022 in review

Giles Rafferty
All, ESG, Guidance, media relations, Shareholder Engagement

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communications and Media US founding father, Benjamin Franklin, said “nothing is certain except death and taxes”. Had he been in a more expansive mood he may have included ‘change’ as another certainty. 2022 has been a year of change. We welcomed Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee and mourned her passing. We celebrated the […]

ASX bares teeth on timing of Periodic Reports

Ron Cameron
All, ASX Listing, compliance, Disclosure, IR

RON CAMERON, Investor Relations During November, the ASX released a compliance update that contained information on a strict new enforcement regime around the timing of periodic reports. Get it wrong and a listed company faces automatic suspension. The update also called out inappropriate use of the Markets Announcement Platform and how that may lead to […]

Proxy Advisor Voting Guidelines on Virtual AGMs, Board Diversity and ESG

Victoria Geddes
AGM, All, ESG, Governance, Shareholder Engagement, Voting

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director It’s AGM season and many companies will be talking with shareholders about the resolutions they are being asked to vote on. Most fund managers engage proxy advisors to either help them manage the voting process or, more commonly, to access their recommendations as part of their own general due diligence. The […]

Is the two-strike rule back in vogue?

ROWAN CLARKE
AGM, All, Governance, Voting

ROWAN CLARKE, Investor Relations With the 2022 reporting season behind us, many companies have shifted their attention to planning the Annual General Meeting (AGM). One piece of the meeting that all companies need to navigate is securing the requisite 75% of shareholder votes for the Remuneration Report. Voting on the Remuneration Report is watched closely […]

FIRST Advisers FY23 Guidance Report

SALONI SURI
All, Disclosure, Guidance, Reporting

SALONI SURI, Shareholder Analytics During August we monitored companies in the ASX300 Index that reported for the period ending 30 June 2022 (FY22). Around 80% of companies in the S&P/ASX 300 index released their results during August 2022, with large companies particularly well represented. This enabled us to build a representative picture of the approach […]

ESG and the AGM Season

ROWAN CLARKE
AGM, All, ESG, Governance

ROWAN CLARKE, Investor Relations As we go into AGM season, the spotlight has again been shone on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) matters and the need for companies to demonstrate how they are improving their performance on these issues. HESTA, one of Australia’s largest investors, has written to all Chairs and CEOs of ASX300 companies […]

Corporate access in the new norm

Giles Rafferty
All, conference, COVID-19, Investor Days, roadshow

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communications and Media Adviser The COVID-19 pandemic effectively eliminated in person Investor Relations (IR) meetings and events and accelerated the adoption and refinement of virtual interactions between companies and the investment community. Now, with travel restrictions removed or significantly eased and the WHO reporting global COVID cases falling 9% and deaths 15%, […]

Do you need Purpose?

Victoria Geddes
All, ESG, Purpose

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director The importance of the role of Corporate Purpose has been gaining momentum globally since 2019, sparked in Australia by the release of the 4th edition of the ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations. In its Principle 1, ASX noted that the Board of a listed entity should be responsible under its […]

Building your ESG Credibility

ROWAN CLARKE
All, ESG, Governance, NIRI, Reporting

ROWAN CLARKE, Investor Relations A company’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance continues to grow in importance for investors. The challenge for companies is to develop ESG reporting metrics that reflect the specific ESG issues impacting their business, while also allowing for their performance to be measured against peers. An additional layer of complexity within […]

Evaluating Your IR Program

ROWAN CLARKE
Best Practice, Investor Targeting, IR, NIRI, Perception Study

ROWAN CLARKE, Investor Relations As we enter a new financial year, it is worth reflecting on the effectiveness of your Company’s IR program. This was a topic at the 2022 National Investor Relations Institute’s (NIRI) Conference held in Boston. FIRST Advisers attended the conference in June and we summarise some of the key recommendations. Recommendation […]

Perspectives on ESG from the USA

Victoria Geddes
All, COVID-19, Disclosure, ESG, MiFiID II, NIRI, Purpose

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director This year the headline topics at the NIRI (National Investor Relations Institute) Conference were ESG and the importance of Purpose. The US has, like Australia, been generally late to the ESG party compared to Europe so understanding the issues at the forefront of driving change has relevance for Australia. Ron O’Hanly Chairman and […]

Shareholder Activism is Stirring in Australia and Accelerating in Asia

Victoria Geddes
Activism, All, ESG, Governance

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director Over the past two years, as COVID has rampaged around the world, an unexpected bonus for company boards has been the virtual exit, stage right, of activist shareholders. I’m not talking about the type of activism associated with ESG issues that we are increasingly seeing around the time of AGMs, but […]

Custodians on the share register

SALONI SURI
All, Investor Targeting, Investor Tracking, IR. Analytics, Registries, RORI

SALONI SURI, Shareholder Analytics In a previous blog, we talked about the structure of the share register. Common accounts on a share register include Retail Investors, Company Directors and Management, and Custodial or Nominee accounts. In this blog we will take a closer look at Custodians. Custodians’ accounts can be the most prominent shareholders on […]

Mastering Virtual Investor Days – Part 2

Victoria Geddes
All, Best Practice, Investor Days, IR

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director and GILES RAFFERTY, Senior Adviser Corporate Communication Following on from part 1, published in our March 2022 Newsletter, this second part of our overview of Virtual Investor Days looks at the complexities and advantages of managing online events and online presentation skills. Managing Digital Logistics For any Investor Day there are […]

The IPO market, so far in 2022

ROWAN CLARKE
All, IPO, IPOs, Registries

ROWAN CLARKE, Investor Relations The IPO market in Australia was buoyant from late 2020 through 2021, following a period of subdued activity through 2019 and the first six months of Covid. This blog looks at how the IPO market is backing up in 2022 following a performance that broke all records in 2021. Despite initial […]

Mastering Virtual Investor Days – Part 1

Victoria Geddes
All, Best Practice, Investor Days, IR

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director In our popular two-part blog on The Do’s and Don’ts of Investor Days, we were working on the not unreasonable assumption that they would be in person events. Over the past two years Covid has ruled out face to face meetings, let alone organizing large events such as AGMs and Investor […]

STOCK BORROWING AND LENDING 101

CHRIS HUGHES
All, Analytics, Investor Tracking, IR, IR. Analytics, shareholder

CHRIS HUGHES, Shareholder Analyst The borrowing and lending of shares dates back to the earliest days of stock trading. Put simply, it involves the owner of shares ‘lending’ them to another investor or institution who ‘borrows’ them for a given length of time. Borrowing and lending deals are often transacted by market makers or dealers, […]

Same-Day Reporting in 2021

ROWAN CLARKE
All, Annual Report, IR, Reporting

ROWAN CLARKE, Investor Relations For a number of years, FIRST Advisers has been monitoring same day reporting in Australia. We define same day reporting to be when a company releases their Annual Report on the same day that they release their Full Year Financial Results. The practice of providing the Annual Report on the same […]

Proxy advice – if it ain’t, broke don’t try to fix it

Giles Rafferty
AGM, All, Governance

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communications and Media Adviser The dust has settled following the short-lived federal regulations designed to impose new licensing and independence requirements on the Proxy Adviser industry. The now defunct rules were introduced as regulations by Federal Treasure Josh Frydenberg, just before Christmas last year, rather than as legislation that could have been […]

ESG Reporting in 2021

ROWAN CLARKE
All, Best Practice, ESG, Reporting

ROWAN CLARKE, Investor Relations At FIRST Advisers, a number of our clients are starting to focus on the task of reporting on their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance for the first time. This reflects the increased momentum that has been gathering in recent years, particularly in the ASX 300. We first undertook a review […]

FIRST Edition in 2021

Giles Rafferty
AGM, AIRA, All, COVID-19, IPO, IR, Perception Study

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communication and Media Adviser. 2021 is drawing to a close with a sense of COVID-19 déjà vu. In late 2020 a new COVID variant, labelled Delta, was first identified in India. The Delta variant is characterised by mutations to the ‘spike protein’ which make it highly transmissible. The Delta variant is thought […]

Consolidation of ESG Reporting Frameworks moves a step closer

Victoria Geddes
All, Disclosure, ESG, Reporting

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director. The big news this month was the announcement by the Chair of the IFRS Foundation, timed for release at COP26 on 3 November, of another important step towards the realization of global sustainability disclosure standards. At present there are a number of different frameworks that companies can use to guide how […]

The Decline in Traditional Shareholder Activism

Victoria Geddes
Activism, AGM, All, ESG, Governance

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director. Annual General Meeting season has just concluded and while the stats are still being collated for the final quarter, we already know that the role of climate and environmental activists in pursuing their agenda has continued to increase this year. Data collected by Insightia from Q1 to Q3 over the past […]

First Advisers
Activism, All

As 2021 winds down, we look at the meetings that we have been tracking over the past 11 months. November is always busy with listed company Annual General Meetings, however, the Extraordinary Meetings that were called this month didn’t come from shareholders, but instead from companies themselves looking to issue additional shares and make changes to […]

Why Intraday trading volumes may not impact a share register

SALONI SURI
All, Investor Tracking, IR. Analytics, Registries, RORI, shareholder

SALONI SURI, Investor Relations Executive A common question asked by our clients is why they see more volume traded on market than captured in the investor tracking report over a period of time. Trading volumes and Underlying Beneficial Ownership Most of our clients experience large trading volumes on market but not all trading is reflected […]

PERCEPTION STUDIES TO SUPERCHARGE INVESTOR RELATIONS

Ben Rebbeck
All, Best Practice, IR, Perception Study, Shareholder Engagement

BEN REBBECK, Founding Director Why you need to understand perceptions of your company The substantial resources, including staffing, technology, printing, advisers and senior management time that most companies devote to investor relations are unfortunately not unlimited. It’s therefore crucial that these scarce resources are utilised as efficiently as possible with the best IR outcomes for […]

Virtual AGMs

Giles Rafferty
AGM, All, COBID-19, compliance, Governance, Investor Days, IR, video

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communication and Media Advisor Talking the talk at virtual AGMs As AGM season looms large, the Australian Federal Government has given clarity around what will be required to hold a virtual Annual General Meeting during the latter part of 2021. A key change, compared to the COVID-19 inspired temporary arrangements introduced in 2020, […]

Nailing Your Virtual Events

ROWAN CLARKE
AGM, All, COVID-19, Governance, Investor Days, IR, video

ROWAN CLARKE, Investor Relations With most of Australia being plunged back into lockdown, and the August reporting season about to merge into roadshow season, there is no getting away from the fact that virtual briefings and meetings are still the only way to connect with shareholders and investors. So in this blog we explore the […]

Starting the ESG journey

ROWAN CLARKE
All, ESG, NIRI, Reporting

ROWAN CLARKE, Investor Relations At FIRST Advisers, we are increasingly offering advice to companies on how to best position themselves to meet investor demand for ESG accountability. What was once seen as a topic for socially conscious asset managers, is now widely adopted by investors. ESG was a hot topic at the US based National […]

The IPO Market in 2021

ROWAN CLARKE
All, Capital Raising, IPO, IR, Registries

ROWAN CLARKE, Investor Relations The IPO market in 2020 sprang into life in October, having retreated into hibernation with the advent of COVID. The rush to list turned into a stampede as the year drew to a close with December registering a record listing in one month of 29 companies. This included large and high […]

All you need to know about Short Selling

SALONI SURI
All, Analytics, Investor Tracking, IR, Short Attacks

SALONI SURI, Investor Relations Executive. Overview Short selling is a simple concept—an investor borrows a stock, sells the stock, and then buys the stock back to return it to the lender. In the period between selling borrowed stock and buying it back the investor is said to be ‘Short’ of stock, hence the term short […]

ESG at the Vanguard of proxy voting

Giles Rafferty
All, ESG, Governance, Shareholder Engagement

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communication and Media Advisor. The financial markets adage is if Wall Street sneezes other markets catch cold. So it is worth keeping an eye on what’s happening in US financial markets as trends there tend to inform decision making elsewhere. In this context we have been interested to note how Vanguard, one of […]

Proxy Advisors in a time of COVID

Giles Rafferty
AGM, All, Best Practice, COVID-19, ESG, Governance, Shareholder Engagement

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communication and Media Advisor The Coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the world, we canvassed the three main Proxy Advisory firms operating in Australia Ownership Matters, CGI Glass Lewis and ISS to get a sense of what impact corporate and government responses to the pandemic has had on governance and their voting recommendations. Widening […]

The Convergence of ESG and Activist forces

Victoria Geddes
Activism, All, COVID-19, ESG, Governance, Reporting

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director Activism during COVID A review of the impact of COVID 19 on activism globally in 2020 would suggest that it largely reinforced the trend of slowing activity that has been evident since its peak in 2018. In Australia the number of companies publically subjected to activists’ demands returned to the annual […]

How fair is your SPP?

ANNA FUGLESTAD
All, Best Practice, Capital Raising, Proxy Solicitation, shareholder, SPP

ANNA FUGLESTAD, SHAREHOLDER ENGAGEMENT Over the past year as companies have taken advantage of buoyant equities market and COVID related exemptions to undertake capital raisings, retail shareholders have jumped on the opportunity to increasing their holdings through Share Purchase Plans. FIRST Advisers recently analyzed all Share Purchase Plans that occurred between March 2020 and February […]

Who’s really on your register?

ROWAN CLARKE
All, Analytics, Investor Tracking, IR

IDENTIFYING THE BENEFICIAL OWNERS OF SHARES ROWAN CLARKE, INVESTOR RELATIONS The ability to interrogate a company’s share register to identify its beneficial owners provides important information to Directors. In addition to identifying who is making decisions to buy and sell shares, it enables the Board and senior management to identify such things as where […]

The return of Guidance

Daniel Jones
All, COVID-19, Disclosure, Guidance

DAN JONES, MANAGER SHAREHOLDER ANALYTICS In April 2020, we wrote that more than 80% of companies withdrew their FY20 guidance amid uncertainty surrounding COVID-19. During the February 2021 earnings season, we recommenced monitoring the results of S&P/ASX300 companies to establish to what extent the provision of guidance has been re-adopted and how companies are viewing […]

Locking in the Trust premium

Giles Rafferty
All, Corp Comms, ESG, media relations, Purpose

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communication and Media Advisor Trust in Australian Institutions has surged during the Coronavirus pandemic to reach all-time highs. This resurgence of trust means, in Australia, the institutions of Business, Government, Media and NGO’s are all now viewed as competent where just 12 months ago only Business was seen to be so. Two institutions, […]

Fink doubles down on climate

Giles Rafferty
All, Best Practice, Disclosure, ESG, Reporting

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communication and Media Advisor Restating that climate risk is investment risk, Larry Fink, the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Blackrock, the world’s biggest and arguably most powerful investor, is calling for companies to share their plans for the transition to a net zero economy in his annual letter to CEOs. Mr Fink […]

ASX introduces new ‘15% Rule’

Ben Rebbeck
All, compliance, Governance, Guidance, Reporting

Ben Rebbeck, Founding Director Recently, the ASX announced updates to Guidance Note 8 on continuous disclosure requirements in relation to earnings guidance. While the ASX retained the framework of its existing guidance in the update, its changes to Guidance Note 8 include a new ‘15% Rule’ regarding the impact of broker consensus earnings on guidance and earnings […]

The IPO Market in 2020 – the Final Scorecard

Victoria Geddes
All, Capital Raising, IPO, IR, Registries

VICTORIA GEDDES, Founding Director In September 2020 the door to the IPO market flew open and dozens of companies poured through in a rush to list before the Christmas/New Year shut down. Memories were still fresh from late 2019 when a promising IPO market was stopped dead in tracks in October as several high profile […]

2020! A year like no other

First Advisers
All, COVID-19, ESG, Guidance

2020 was a year filled with extreme and extraordinary events. All of which played out in the context of the extraordinary global health crisis that is the Coronavirus pandemic. A year of extremes Here in Australia we endured bush fire disasters, the death of the Holden car brand and the tragedy of SAS war crimes […]

ESG Reporting among the ASX300

Daniel Jones
All, ESG, IR, Reporting

DAN JONES, Manager Shareholder Analytics As institutional investors increasingly demand more accountability for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance, companies face pressure to improve their standards of ESG reporting. However, unlike financial data, ESG information has no legislated or regulatory reporting guidelines or formats so the mechanism for delivery and any adoption of a reporting […]

Video with vim and vigour

Giles Rafferty
All, Corp Comms, COVID-19, video

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communications and Media Advisor The camera never lies! A broad statement that still holds true despite the incredible advances in software to manipulate digital imagery. The cameras built into smartphones and laptops are amazingly sophisticated but are no guarantee that a video presentation will look good or be engaging. If you don’t […]

REVISITING SAME-DAY REPORTING TWO YEARS ON

Victoria Geddes
All, Annual Report, Reporting

Between 2016 and 2018, FIRST Advisers monitored how long companies took to release their Annual Report following the release of their Financial Results. The implementation of Same-Day Reporting has become an industry standard in terms of best practice investor relations because it reflects a commitment to release this document at a time when it has […]

The IPO window is wide open, but for how long?

Victoria Geddes
All, ASX Listing, IPO

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director. The IPO window has unexpectedly opened after more than 18 months of subdued activity. Given the slowdown since February due to COVID-19 and the level of uncertainty surrounding the outlook for economic growth, no-one was banking on a quick return in 2020 to the levels of activity that the market had enjoyed […]

TOP TEN TIPS FOR IPO COMPANIES

Victoria Geddes
All, ASX Listing, Disclosure, Guidance, IPO, IR, IR website, Shareholder Engagement

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director. As the market braces for an avalanche of IPOs to hit the market in the December quarter, it is time to review our playbook for IPO investor relations, to highlight just what it takes to maximise the chances of a successful life after listing. Here are our top 10 Investor Relations tips […]

Compliance update: Capital raising relief extended

First Advisers
All, ASIC, Capital Raising, compliance, COVID-19

This month, ASIC extended its temporary relief for capital raisings aimed to assist listed entities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic to raise capital in a quicker and less costly way without undermining investor protection. The temporary measures were due to expire in October 2020. The temporary measures will now expire on 1 January 2021. The […]

Activism in 2020

First Advisers
Activism, All, Governance

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director. At FIRST Advisers we pay close attention to the activist space in Australia, having worked on many campaigns for both activists and companies over the past ten years. In our monthly newsletter we have a regular slot that summarises for our readers the various activist campaigns over that month and we […]

Assessment of Virtual AGMs — Must try harder!

Ben Rebbeck
AGM, All, Best Practice, COVID-19, Governance, video

BEN REBBECK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR As the repercussions of the COVID pandemic started to impact the corporate sector ASIC, the Australian corporate regulator, following advice and prompting from their foreign counterparts, allowed Australian listed companies to hold fully virtual Annual General Meetings. ASIC’s pathway to enable virtual AGMs, as they were the first to admit, was […]

Corporate Purpose during the Coronavirus pandemic

Giles Rafferty
All, Corp Comms, COVID-19, Governance, Purpose

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communications and Media Advisor, writing for the Winter 2020 Issue of Listed@ASX. What does the Coronavirus pandemic and the ‘new normal’, that is expected to emerge in its wake, mean for a Company’s purpose? As the pandemic surges across the globe many senior corporate leaders will, rightly, view the immediate purpose of […]

A new number 3 share registry

Giles Rafferty
All, Analytics, Investor Tracking, Registries

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communications. An interview with Ben Kay, Executive Director, Automic At FIRST Advisers our shareholder analytics team works with all registries in the delivery of beneficial ownership analysis reports to our clients. We have watched the increasing penetration of Automic Group as a new player in the registry market in recent years and […]

The Tipping Point for ESG is Now (Part Two)

Victoria Geddes
All, COVID-19, ESG, Reporting

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director. In Part 1 of our article on ESG last month* we looked at the extent to which ESG reporting has gained hold in Australia and whether the strong performance of ESG funds recently might represent a moment in time when investing according to ESG principles becomes mainstream. We introduced the Standard […]

Designs on Annual Reporting

Giles Rafferty
All, Annual Report, Best Practice, Corp Comms

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communications. It is time to think about Annual Reports and then to think again. While an Annual Report must include content required by the Corporations Act and the ASX listing rules,that doesn’t mean we should limit our thinking to just meeting that objective. It is right and proper for the compulsory materials, […]

The Tipping Point for ESG is Now

Victoria Geddes
All, COVID-19, ESG, Reporting

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director. The relentless push towards the adoption of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting by companies across the globe appears to be gaining momentum. As entire populations have gone into hibernation in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the topic of greatest interest in the global investment community is […]

Disclosure and guidance during COVID-19

Victoria Geddes
All, COVID-19, Disclosure, Guidance

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director. ASX Compliance Updates with some reminders on Disclosure Rules on Earnings Guidance Since the end of February 2020, ASX has released three key Compliance Updates (28 February, 31 March and 22 April) which include a raft of amendments or reminders, prompted in the main by the challenges associated with the impact […]

Getting COVID-19 capital raisings away

Ron Cameron
All, Capital Raising, COVID-19

RON CAMERON, Investor Relations. The need to engage shareholders directly as a result of Recent Changes to Capital Raising Requirements ‘May you live in interesting times’, which is often characterised as a Chinese curse, has never been as relevant as it is today, in the time of COVID-19. Personal circumstances have been turned upside down […]

Guidance in Uncertain Times

Victoria Geddes
All, COVID-19, Disclosure, Guidance

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director Guidance and outlook statements, freshly minted from the February reporting season, are already being consigned to the waste paper basket. This makes sense when every week brings a new development that has the potential to threaten the very survival of many businesses. So what do you say to your shareholders when […]

Cybersecurity and Notifiable Data Breaches: What have the last 2 years taught us?

Victoria Geddes
All, Cybersecurity, Governance

VICTORIA GEDDES, Executive Director It’s exactly two years now since the Federal Government introduced its Notifiable Data Breach (NDB) scheme. It requires every private and public company with annual turnover of $3 million or more, listed or not, to report cyber breaches that are likely to result in serious harm to individuals whose personal information […]

Australian CEOs need to take a stand

Giles Rafferty
All

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communications and Media Advisor Australian’s don’t trust business. This is a key finding of the Edelman Trust Barometer, published on 19 February, which has been measuring levels of trust in business, Government, the media and NGOs for the past 20 years. It will be little comfort to Australian business leaders to know […]

Time to confront climate change

Giles Rafferty
Corp Comms, Disclosure, ESG, Purpose

GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communications and Media Advisor Every Government, company and shareholder must confront climate change according to Larry Fink, CEO and Chairman of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. In his annual letter to CEO’s, Mr Fink says a rapidly growing awareness amongst investment market participants of the risks climate change poses to economic […]

Communicating in a crisis

GEOFF MICHELS
All, Corp Comms

GEOFF MICHELS, Senior Adviser, Corporate Communications One month in to 2020 and news headlines have been dominated by the bushfire crisis while the business pages have been reporting on the Australian retailing crises which has seen big brands literally shutting up shops, including the shock withdrawal of Kaufland from the Australian market. The crises in […]

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