In this week’s IR Update episode, we welcomed Andrew Hanson, Director of Investor Relations at Victrex, to discuss investor relations challenges and daily activities in the field of manufacturing and chemical industry. According to him, Victrex takes ESG very seriously in every aspect, should it be recycling or the benefits their products bring to society.
They measure their ESG metrics internally and externally, especially in their resource efficiency area, sustainable solutions and social responsibility.Andrew talks about how, sometimes, the internal communication can be very specific and how important it is to bring that conversation in a simpler way to investors, maybe using examples on where your products bring benefits, for instance. It’s important for any chemical or manufacturing company to make their investors understand their projects and impacts instead of only the financials, he says that site visits are a great way to bring this point to shareholders attention, they should understand how the products relate to everyday society.
During the conversation, Andrew talks about how COVID impacted IR targeting and how they adapted to the “new normal” by doing some in person events and roadshows as they realized that, even though virtual meetings are great, they can’t always pass the personal sentiment of an in person meeting, such as the small talk that, indeed, is important to get more personally and go beyond numbers.
Regarding Victrex growth, especially in the US, Andrew mentioned that they went from small beginnings to a bigger company with the market capitalization and having very clear prospects helped them get through difficult times. In ten years, their US shareholder base went from 5% to 31%, and their strategy was to align their investors with their programs, and since most of them are long term projects, their targeting was directed towards long term investors, something very clear in the US and Canada.
As a final tip to IROs, Andrew says that it is important to take stock of what are your investment cases, ask questions to analysts or investors, keep your message simple so they don’t have a hard time understanding it. When you get investors and shareholders to understand what the company does and their goals, take time to meet with them and try different ideas and places, you’ll have a successful IR strategy.