FIRST Advisers was an event sponsor at the AIRA 2017 Annual Conference and Best Practice IR Awards held in Sydney in late November. FIRST Advisers contribution included moderating a Crisis management panel discussion on managing breaches to cybersecurity and sponsoring the Award for Best Investor Relations by a Company in the ASX “Mid-cap 100”.

Opening the panel discussion, FIRST Advisers Director, Victoria Geddes, provided an overview of the legislation covering mandatory reporting of data breaches and reported on the findings from a recent  FIRST Advisers’ survey of ASX 300 companies on their preparedness for the new reporting environment.  She also outlined how mandatory reporting will work in practice and the importance of having an Incident Response Plan in place supported by a well tested Crisis Management Plan. Panellists included Annan Boag from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner who provided some case studies from the Australian market, as well as outlining some of the practical implications of Mandatory Reporting. Elaine Prior from Citi talked about the investment community’s view of cyber risk and it is currently factored in, or not, to a company’s overall risk profile.

More on this topic in FIRST Advisers white paper “Mandatory Reporting of Cybersecurity Data Breaches – Are you Ready?”.

The FIRST Advisers Award for Best Investor Relations by a Company in the ASX “Mid-Cap 100” was presented to Nufarm, with Abacus Property Group, Genworth and Whitehaven Coal being shortlisted for the award. The key voting criteria taken into consideration for this award included accessibility of senior management; consistency of communication; transparency and diligence in communication such that the overall message of the company is communicated effectively and clearly and the market is kept fully informed of its progress and prospects.

All four companies that made the shortlist for this award should feel very proud of the recognition they have been given by the market for their efforts. Companies in this space have the challenge of having to meet the standards set by their top 100 counterparts but all too often without the resourcing to support it. A significant part of FIRST Advisers work is with such companies so we know how hard they work to deliver exceptional Investor Relations.