A successful investor relations program is not just a matter of grabbing the attention of the Street. The ultimate goal is to build long-term, positive perceptions and expectations within the financial community. How that is accomplished requires strategy, communications management, and hard work.

From the initial concept to the final production stages, Mirus works with clients in shaping their corporate message, as well as defining and developing strategies that effectively deliver that message to the radar screens of the investment community.

The following are a few of the elements that contribute to a complete investor-relations program. For a specific program, tailored to your company's requirements, please contact us.

Investor Perceptions Audit (IPA)

The objective of an IPA is to identify the "perception gap" between internal and external perceptions and expectations – how management perceives the company as opposed to how the company is perceived by the Street. Through a series of carefully executed interviews with management and the investment community, an IPA can identify and quantify that gap, providing valuable market intelligence with which to develop or modify your strategic messaging, and plan and implement a successful IR program.

A key ingredient to a successful IPA is confidentiality. In order to ensure success, audits are best conducted by third-party consultants, rather than in-house IROs.

Annual Report

The annual report is the cornerstone of investor communications. Once thought of as simply an historic record and accounting of the past year's progress, it is now seen as a positioning document, outlining management's forward strategy and goals. In order to satisfy investors' expectations, 60-70% of the front section should be forward looking, with the bulk of the year-end review covered off in the MD&A.

An increasing consideration is an online report. Though companies have been posting annual reports in downloadable, Acrobat format for the last couple of years, the trend now is to provide a full, online report -- interactive and browsable.

A corporate fact sheet is one of the essential tools of investor communications, especially at the retail level. A fact sheet tells a company's story in two, succinct pages, providing an up-to-date "snapshot" of where a company is -- and where it's going. The key sections are: Company Profile, Market Facts, Financial Highlights, Forward Strategy, and Management. Hard copies are useful as handouts at investor readings or Acrobat (.pdf) versions can be
emailed or posted on your IR website for downloading.

The fact sheet is also easily adapted for use as the content for the IR intro page on your website.

Whether you are doing a one-on-one with an analyst or fund manager, an investor luncheon with 30 retail brokers, or an AGM with an audience of 200 investors, analysts, financial advisors, and the media -- you're going to need a presentation. An effective presentation is tailored to your audience and delivers your core messages in a professional package that accurately reflects your branding and corporate image. Multimedia presentations should be accurate, timely, and forward-looking. Posting the finished investor show to your website ensures meeting current standards for timely disclosure.

Recent studies show that 70% of investors, both buy and sell side, look at a company's website before making an investment decision. Everything that an investor needs to make an informed decision about whether to buy, sell, or hold your stock should be available on your website. This includes all material and non-material information that could contribute to his/her investment research.

Mirus is experienced at planning and executing Internet IR strategies --developing content and architecture for IR websites; using webcasting for conference calls, roadshows and AGMs; responding to investor email enquiries.