INVESTOR RELATIONS

The Investor Relations (IR) role is multifaceted and demanding of resources. Whether this responsibility falls to your CEO, CFO or a specialist IR Director, there are often needs for counselling, sounding boards or support for the execution of IR activities.

Getting help from an external expert can be an effective way to ensure the capacity for a proactive and strategic IR operation. With engagement, an outside perspective, and a great deal of knowledge of capital markets and their actors, we help both large and small companies with analysis, strategy, and execution of IR communications. These are designed to manage expectations, create visibility, and interest, and increase trust and credibility for your company’s strategy and operations.

INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERINGS

An IPO or first listing on a stock exchange is an important milestone in a company’s development, and often generates huge changes for both management and the rest of the company. Early planning provides the best conditions for harnessing a strong corporate story that can then lead to a powerful investment case. Something every company can benefit from in both internal and external communication. Your company must also be prepared to be examined and investigated to a much greater extent than normal, where new knowledge about behaviour – for example media logic and investor relations – can simplify every stage of the listing process.

A successful IPO requires, in other words, both good planning and excellent communication. We can ensure that your firm enjoys the best possible communicative support for a successful IPO. This might be by being a sounding board, or by providing more active support whenever necessary. We can also remain in place when the listing is complete and the “new era” as a publicly traded company begins. As every listing process is unique, there are no general solutions, so it is important that we jointly identify your company’s very particular needs.

FINANCIAL PR

We can help companies publicise their corporate stories and financial reports. Challenges vary from company to company, but with a clear financial PR plan that is built on both the business plan and the overarching communication plan, you can increase communication clarity as well as the probability of getting the right message out there.

Financial PR generated in the right way can both create a proper valuation and better liquidity in the company’s traded share.

CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING (CSRD)

Sustainability insights and data are becoming very important for investors and stakeholders’ decision-making, as they demand to see how value is created for the company and for the society. 

EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires extensive and detailed disclosures about how sustainability issues affect a company’s business, as well as the impact of its activities on society and the environment. Beyond targets and metrics, the CSRD disclosures include sustainability governance, the interaction of sustainability impacts, risks and opportunities with the business strategy and policies and action plans to manage those impacts, risks and opportunities. 

All of this information will also require independent assurance, beginning with limited assurance over Year 1 reporting and increasing to reasonable assurance at some point thereafter. 

Our team will guide your company and run your CSRD initiatives from double materiality analysis to reporting, follow-up, selection of software and in parallel build an organization with knowledge in how to secure long-term regulatory requirements as well as the the company's actual environmental footprint.

COMMUNICATION DURING MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Communication plays a central role in all large corporate transactions, but surprisingly few resources are brought to play in this area. A well-established communication strategy can mean the difference between success and failure. It might concern ensuring shareholder approval – both in your own company and in the one being acquired – or being able to ably defend against a hostile takeover. Similar caution is necessary before and during any divestments. Correct media exposure is an important success factor.

We can support your company through the entire transaction with communication plans, media strategies, crisis plans, media training, presentations, press releases, and much more.

CAPITAL MARKET DAYS

Capital market days constitute a powerful platform for reaching out with both your corporate story and your investment case. Clear and accessible messaging is the best way to expand your shareholder base. Properly executed, it is one of the most cost-effective ways to spread knowledge of your company, its strategy and direction. Moreover, it provides an opportunity to display the breadth and depth of the corporate management team. The quality of the information, as well as how it is packaged, influences the investors’ view of your company, and thus also its valuation.

We can support your company with everything from planning to content to execution. And even more when we sit down to discuss your situation.

IR AND CORPORATE WEBSITES

Digitalisation has quickly changed the landscape for companies that want to maintain control and deliver service in the sense of their communication. Even if you don’t always have a clear strategy for how to handle financial communication on your webpages and in social media channels, it’s important to stay abreast of the public dialogue involving your company and its share value. Staying informed about how the company is discussed is important, as information spreads like wildfire in social media channels.

We can advise you on a comprehensive strategy for social media, or one narrowly covering Investor Relations.

FINANCIAL REPORTING

Thoroughly organised reporting that is aligned with the rest of corporate communication contributes to clarifying a company’s business and strategy. An annual report, should be clear and accessible, but still contain sufficient facts and details to describe the company’s ideas, challenges, proposals, and solutions. A creative idea-based approach and a well-established process underlie the development of a good annual report or corporate sustainability report. The first step is to jointly establish goals, purposes, and the various products’ communicative concept. We would then move on to discuss target groups, tonality and content. We can contribute to the process of developing and producing annual reports, from analysis to final published product. We can provide support through the entire process but can also contribute to just those parts that require an outside perspective: creative concepts, messages, content and design. Naturally we can also take responsibility for project management and advisory services, as well as overseeing production – whether in print or online – and whether in one language or in additional translated versions. Our long experience of complex financial reporting assignments ensures that processes are both efficient and highly flexible. We also keep ourselves updated on changes to legal and regulatory requirements. Much of the work can be made easier through the correct choice of tools for quarterly reporting and analysis. We can even discuss how the contents of an annual report can be re-used in additional channels, such as social media.

CORPORATE STORY

A corporate story needs to explain the company’s origins, where it is headed, and what the company stands for, as well as explaining strategic decision points that set your direction. Formulating a clear corporate story requires a structured approach. It might include some research about the company, interviews with founders and top management, analysis of strengths and weaknesses, markets, industry trends, competitors, etc.

The goal is to develop a convincing message that is well anchored in the company’s strategy, brand and culture. By having a corporate story that is thoroughly grounded and well established, your company strengthens its brand, and can more easily attract and retain the best employees, as well as reach other stakeholders. We will drive this development process and deliver a distinct and complete product. This may involve everything from developing a corporate story, establish a message platform, to inputs such as analyses of stakeholders, competitors or industries. Our contribution will be competence in strategic communications and media relations, combined with broad experience from capital markets.

POSITIONING AND MESSAGE PLATFORM

Positioning addresses the question of how your company wants to be perceived, what it should be associated with, and how it should be differentiated from competitors. Positioning is a conscious strategy for creating an image of the company that aligns with how you want it to be perceived.

POSITIONING PROJECT, IN BRIEF:

Formulate the desired position, Conduct a stakeholder analysis, Create a change plan, Anchor the plan internally and then implement it. When the positioning is completed, you’ll need a message platform. This is the basis for all communication – to employees, customers, owners, partners, analysts, etc. It contains the most important messages. It also includes a corporate presentation with mission (current business), vision (how it really will make change to the world), and core values. This presentation is then adapted for a variety of channels and audiences – a short version for press releases and social media, something a bit longer for your customers and other stakeholders. Together we’ll establish an ambition level for your positioning and develop a comprehensive message platform. This is an iterative process, often carried out in workshops. A strong degree of trust is important for all communication projects, but since this is about going in and analysing your company’s DNA, it is extremely important in this context. To create the most fruitful conditions for achieving this, we should first meet to discuss the scope of this project, to ensure that we can work well together.

RAISING CAPITAL

How you communicate when raising capital can greatly affect both the terms and valuation of the transaction itself. In some cases, it can even be decisive for executing the share issue at all. There are special situations that arise when dealing with institutional investors, with multinational investor groups, and with the analysts and journalists who filter and shape much of the information that reaches investors. We can help with all the communication around raising capital in a variety of situations and can even provide advice and assistance regarding investor contacts. Our experience in handling a wide variety of international assignments can enable a wider investor network.

CRISIS COMMUNICATION AND TRUST

Crises that can lead to negative media exposure can damage any company. Rapid, open and responsible crisis communication can turn a negative incident into an opportunity for increasing the amount of trust you command. It’s important to remember that a company isn’t only judged by the nature of a crisis, but often more by how it’s handled. When a crisis does strike, the success of your company’s communication efforts will depend largely on how well its organisation and spokespersons function. By maintaining an updated crisis communication plan and making it available, many questions can be immediately cleared up regarding how communication should be carried out, and your organisation can put all its energy into managing the incident. We help companies and organisations in the preparatory stages, including inventories of internal processes, drawing up action plans and communication plans, and even training spokespersons. Moreover, we can also be activated as a “task force” and be available throughout the entire crisis. Because regardless of how well-prepared you are, there is often a need for external support or special competence.

TRAINING IN SPEAKING AND PRESENTATIONS

Even messages that are strong and clear on their own must be conveyed in a way that audiences understand and are able to absorb. This makes it important to move beyond just what needs to be said and focus on the way it is presented. Given our experience from corporate presentations over many years, we can help you to prepare presentations and train you and your colleagues in presenting to the media as well as other stakeholders. Our process starts with a discussion with the spokesperson and identifying any barriers to a credible and powerful presentation. Speaker training is then conducted in a realistic setting, preferably in front of a camera to provide the right framing. Clear and direct feedback, as well as concrete suggestions for improvement, provide a true and lasting effect.

CHANGE COMMUNICATION

Since change processes are a natural part of every organisation, the communication of these changes must take place effectively and in a structured way, so that staff don’t lose their motivation. In principle, all change processes require a clear and structured communication with a continuous stream of information to staff internally, as well as to external stakeholders. We will help you create a structured and effective communication plan so that personnel and other stakeholders will be well informed, while minimising the risk of misinterpretation. Proper communication of changes is the key to motivated personnel as well as satisfied customers and shareholders.

LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION

A good corporate management team radiates self-confidence and the authority to get things done, both internally and externally. We help corporate leaders and companies profile themselves optimally in the media and in capital markets. We can help you create a plan where several activities are analysed and defined, identifying which topics and themes need to be emphasized, how frequently and of course, in which channels. Showing digital leadership by being active in relevant social channels is becoming increasingly important, and we’ll see to it that entry into this phase is smooth and ensures long-range stability.

EXPERTISE FOR EVERY CRITICAL SITUATION

No business can resource for every risk or eventuality, so we have teams with the experience and expertise to provide senior advice and seamless solutions.

• Investor Engagement

• IPO

• M&A

• Shareholder Activism

• Geopolitical

• Regulation & Public Policy

• Business & Society

• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

• Employee Engagement

• Crisis

• Cybersecurity & Data Privacy

• Family Business & Family Office

• Governance

• Litigation

• Creative Campaigns & Content

• Data & Analysis

• Digital