Use of the internet by Irish companies for investor relations purposes

This study of Irish company investor relations material on the Internet was carried out in two parts. Firstly, Irish listed companies were surveyed for Web sites and investor relations material on the sites found was analysed.

Results showed that 66 (67%) Irish listed companies had a Web site. Of these, 53 (84%) contained investor relations material. The most common type was background information on the company. The least common was background information on the industry in which the company operates.

Despite the many new forms of investor relations activities now possible using technology inherent to the Internet (e.g. the option to download financial information in spreadsheet format, to participate online in company meetings, press and analyst conferences or to take part in Internet chat sessions with the investor relations department) none were featured on Irish publicly listed company (plc) Web sites.

In the second part of the study, a content analysis of investor relations material on ten third-party sites was performed. The coverage on these third-party sites of Irish listed companies was also analysed.

Results showed that nine (90%) sites provided some form of investor relations material free of charge to users. Share prices were provided on 90% of third-party sites. Historic share prices were found on six (60%) sites. None of the sites offered background information on different industries. The most commonly featured financial information was a direct e-mail order service for annual reports. Only one site, Yahoo! Finance, availed of the new technology inherent to the Internet by providing ratios and other information in a format that could be downloaded onto a spreadsheet.

No site covered all Irish plcs. The site with the highest coverage covered 93 Irish companies (94%) while the lowest covered 71 (72%) companies.