Leading change
The theme for this year’s IR Society conference, in London on June 18, is ‘IR: Leading change, driving value’. The event will be hosted and moderated by a familiar face to many: Evan Davies, former presenter of the BBC’s Newsnight and Dragons’ Den TV programs.
After opening remarks from IR Society CEO Gary Davies, the event will begin with a keynote address from John Allan, chairman of Tesco and Barratt Developments and president of British trade body the CBI. Given his breadth of knowledge and experience, Allan is well placed to provide the boardroom view of how British companies are navigating the uncertainty and changes that have faced them in the last few years.
Following this session, Evan Davies will invite a buy-side panel to the stage to discuss how each representative’s firm is responding to Mifid II. This panel will feature speakers from OLIM Asset Management, Jupiter, AXA and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. In addition to covering Mifid II, the panel will discuss the role ESG is playing in decision-making processes.
Having heard the investor perspective, attendees will then get to hear from two leading IR professionals at top British companies on how they’re navigating the challenges discussed. This panel will feature Stuart Morgan, head of IR at easyJet, and James Collins, head of investor relations at Sainsbury’s.
The morning’s break-out sessions promise to dive deep into more fundamental IR questions. In one session, David Walker, head of IR at British Land, will moderate a panel of brokers and analysts from AXA, Berenberg and Numis, covering how the sell side has been affected by Mifid II and other recent regulatory changes. The adjacent session will ask how IR teams can get the best shareholder register, focusing on investor targeting and how much of their base should be held by institutional investors. It will be moderated by Douglas Radcliffe, group IR director at Lloyds Banking Group, and feature panelists from Citi, Rothschild Investor Advisory and FMR Investment Management.
After lunch, the audience will be treated to the second keynote session of the day. This time, Evan Davies will host a conversation with Susan Hooper, who currently sits on the boards of Uber UK, the Department for Exiting the European Union, the Rank Group, Affinity Water and Wizz Air. Hooper is uniquely placed to discuss Brexit, boardroom dynamics and London’s technology community, but she also has a breadth of prior experience, having led British Gas’ residential services business and the Acromas Group’s travel division, and held senior roles at PepsiCo, McKinsey, Saatchi & Saatchi and Avis Europe.
The second lot of breakout sessions will once again zoom in on what IR professionals need to know specifically. Having heard from two board directors earlier in the day about their views on the role of IR, the first session will hear from IR chiefs at Aggreko, Ophir Energy, HSBC and Inmarsat about the relationships they have with their boards. In the other session, panelists from Ocado, Hays, Pennon Group and Babcock International will build on the earlier targeting session to discuss how they bring their company story to life outside of the regular IR calendar.
In the penultimate session of the day, an investor panel – featuring Hermes Investment Management, EcoAct, UBS Asset Management and Johnson Matthey – will discuss the integration of ESG and how other companies can do the same for their communications.
The day will conclude with a final keynote session from Sarah Bates, chair of Merian Global Investors. Given her 38 years’ experience in the financial services industry and 20 years as a non-executive director, Bates is the ideal candidate to review the earlier discussions about financial regulations, market structure and what the board wants to know from IROs.
Kings Place, London
