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Qatar Exchange (QE) today hosted the “Success in Digital IR” workshop and the 4th Annual KWD Webranking Survey Awards for the best websites in the MENA region. The event was held at St. Regis Hotel in cooperation with M: Communications and with the support of the Middle East Investor Relations Society.
This workshop saw a strong turnout from QE-listed companies but also participants from around the region. The KWD Webranking Survey Awards held after the conclusion of the workshop was hosted by Rashid bin Ali Al Mansoori, CEO of Qatar Exchange.
On this occasion, Mr. Al-Mansoori stated: “Sound IR practices, and increasingly digital IR practices, are the essence of the communication process and may well be one of factors that make your company stand out. Firms need to know and understand their shareholders to meet the growing requirements of local and international investors.”
Mr. Al-Mansoori also stressed on the fact that the listed companies need to know and understand their shareholders to meet the growing requirements of local and international investors. He stated: “The art of describing your company to investors is exactly that and we are encouraging you all to move away from the more simplified messages and be as sophisticated as possible with your communication.”
He added that the KWD Webranking Survey is one of the oldest and most respected ranking of corporate websites which uses over one hundred and thirty separate criteria and independent survey results to rank corporate websites. For 2012 over one thousand websites in the MENA region were evaluated.
“We are pleased to be working with market experts including the likes of M: Communication, KWD and the ME-IRS and we look forward to supporting their efforts further to develop the IR profession here in Qatar for the benefit of overall market transparency.” Mr. Al-Mansoori concluded.
The workshop was opened by Abdul Aziz Al Emadi, Director of Listing Department who said: “around the region one constant is the obligation for listed companies to provide timely information of a material nature to all shareholders. The development of the internet (and its social media offshoots) has given companies a practical way to manage such information provision. The role of the company website therefore goes beyond just meeting regulatory requirements and is often the first point of contact between investors and companies. As standards have risen so have investor demands and the quality of the information provision on an IR website is a strong guide to the attitude of the listed company to transparency and disclosure and its role as a listed company.
All companies should treat their website as a key opportunity to build a communications platform and not just view it as a regulatory burden whilst recognizing its importance to investors and other stakeholders. So it pays to think about your website early and get a good framework in place. All listed companies should take advice as to what regulatory requirements their website needs to meet.”
Abdul Aziz Al Emadi added: “There is an increasing amount of expertise available in terms of developing dedicated sites and the form/content has become much more sophisticated. We know from investor feedback that having a good website with the type of information investors are looking for is always sought after. Again, the ultimate benefit is a more transparent company communication process an increased investor pool and for some the opportunity to increase the share price through this greater understanding.”
It is worth mentioning that Qatar Exchange had previously identified two areas for immediate focus in 2012 in the area of investor relations, covering (i) building a dedicated IR Department and (ii) developing a dedicated IR website. A seminar on the first aspect was hosted earlier this year. Qatar Exchange took the opportunity to re-emphasise that building dedicated IR expertise in listed companies is an important objective for management teams and that a Board often needs the support of a dedicated expertise in preparing investor presentations, company announcements, website content and liaising with company advisors in this area.
M: Communications is part of King Worldwide, a leading integrated provider of investor relations, financial communications, proxy solicitation and stakeholder management solutions. Based in the leading financial centres, King Worldwide work for more than 1000 companies, mutual fund groups and private equity firms specialising in online communication and web strategy; web governance and organisation; social media strategy; web research; and website design and technical production.
