Prevalence of investor and analyst presentations on investor relations webpages - an industry analysis.

Abstract

Recent behavioural research indicate that non-textual cues are relayed during investor and analyst presentations that influences investors’ judgement. The first objective of this study was to investigate to what extent Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed companies provide media from these presentations on their investor relations webpages. A second objective was to determine whether industry differences exist in the availability and usability of these presentations on the webpages. Findings indicate that although many companies provided PDFs of slides and handouts of presentations, very few provided audio or visual recordings of these events. No significant industry association could be discerned, although Basic Resources companies performed best. This study highlights that JSE-listed companies were not making the most of available investor communication channels to convey subtle non-textual information cues. Institutional investors and analysts participating in presentations have informational advantages over retail investors who have to rely on textual reports, if any.