Sydney, July 19, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - The Australasian Investor Relations Association is pleased to present findings from its first-ever survey of retail shareholders' preferences regarding electronic communication vehicles such as investor websites, online annual reports, webcasts and conference calls.
The catalyst for this research is new legislation that will likely see electronic communication become over time, the primary vehicle through which listed companies engage with their shareholders.
The new law requires shareholders to proactively "opt-in" to receive a hard copy annual report.
This will change the nature of shareholder communication in Australia by placing a much heavier emphasis on electronic communication than in the past.
Because of this, AIRA felt it was important to ask retail shareholders in particular about their expectations of listed company communications in the face of the new law. 3929 people responded to the survey, most of which were retail shareholders.
- Importantly, 52 percent of respondents to the research said electronic communication from listed entities had become either more important or much more important in the past year.
- Respondents said the most important, and most frequently accessed, electronic communication vehicles for investor information were the ASX website and listed company websites.
- When it comes to the annual report, 71% of respondents said they do not choose to receive hard copy annual reports currently, and 79% of respondents said it was not important for them to receive a hard copy annual report (as long as the information is available on the company's website.)
This shift in retail shareholder communication preferences toward electronic delivery of information is an important dynamic of which listed companies should be aware.
An annual report in the post box once a year is no longer the key communication point between listed companies and their retail shareholders. Now, investors expect to be able to access timely, up-to-date information about the companies in which they invest on an ongoing basis, through an easy-to-navigate website.
The challenge for Australian listed companies is to understand this shift in thinking among retail shareholders and respond accordingly.
These survey results are issued to members of the Australasian Investor Relations Association following a survey of investors carried out by AIRA in June 2007.
No representation is made that members of AIRA are bound to act in accordance with them.
© 2007 Australasian Investor Relations Association
The full report is available at this link:
http://www.abnnewswire.net/publicdocs/AIRA_ecomm_survey.pdf
