Investor relations tips are hard to come by.
But if you're planning an investor relations strategy or looking for investor relations advice or an investor relations consultant, Wesfarmers, a listed Australian company with its head office in Perth, is one Australian company setting high standards.
Investor confidence and a fair price for a stock is a balancing act in terms of how much information you release to investors.
This is called the investor relations balancing act. Yes, you have to be compliant and meet the regulators laws on materiality and continuous disclosure.
Wesfarmers certainly has reached "best practice investor relations" with its latest efforts.
Investor confidence is driven by positive numbers (sales, revenue etc) but also by execution of strategy and quality of strategy.
Wesfarmers has the numbers but its implementation of strategy is the standout from an investor relations perspective.
Wesfarmers results are impressive after increasing sales by 4.3 per cent at its Coles supermarket business over the past year in a turbulent market.
For example, sales at Coles for the 12 months to June 27, 2010 totaled $29.77 billion compared with $28.55 billion a year earlier.
More importantly, Coles' sales for the fourth quarter to June 27 totaled $7.448 billion, up 5.5 per cent.
The company in its investor communications said the retail division's sales performance for the year was solid overall, especially given the positive impact of the government's stimulus payments on sales in the prior corresponding period, which had now worn off.
"Good progress continues to be made on growth strategies across the group's retail businesses, with customers responding well to improvements in product range, value and service," Wesfarmers chief executive Richard Goyder said in the statement.
Great detail on strategy.
"Over the last 12 months, our retail businesses have established or reinforced sound business platforms and have strategies in place to further improve the customer experience."
This is a great example of communicating a message that the results highlight excellent strategy implementation.
Need help with investor relations strategy, advice and implementation? Contact us now.Labels: Coles, investor communications, investor relations, investor relations advice, investor relations consultant, investor relations courses, investor relations training, investor sentiment, Wesfarmers