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Forrester Research January 2006 Survey of 1,500 investors: 96 percent of investors who vote their proxies read the annual report 64 percent of investors who don’t vote their proxies read the annual report Rival Research 2005 Survey of institutional investors: 64 percent identified the annual report as of the most helpful sources of information on a company So, Who Reads Annual Reports?
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Effective Annual Reports Maureen Wolff-ReidPresident & Partner
Sharon Merrill Associates, Inc.
November 14, 2007
Sharon Merrill Associates
Boston-based investor relations and corporate communications consultancy
Nationally recognized investor relations experts
Former sell- and buy-side analysts, business journalists, communications professionals
20+ years of award-winning IR leadership
Diverse client base
Forrester Research January 2006 Survey of 1,500 investors:
96 percent of investors who vote their proxies read the annual report
64 percent of investors who don’t vote their proxies read the annual report
Rival Research 2005 Survey of institutional investors:
64 percent identified the annual report as of the most helpful sources of information on a company
So, Who Reads Annual Reports?
A regulatory requirement
A strategic communication vehicle
A marketing document
At Your Company, Is The Annual Report:
Every public company must provide an annual report on Form 10-K to its shareholders
All communications are strategic
Visionary document:
Identifying growth opportunities
Discussing plans for expansion
Laying out the roadmap for years to come
Answer: All of the above
Stakeholders
Institutional Investors
Retail investors
Employees
Business Partners
Customers
Know Your Target Audience
Cover
Creative elements
Letter to shareholders
Operations section (marketing)
Financials – 10K or summary
Corporate information
Core Components of the AR
Use a simple MS Word document
Let the document evolve
Share the document early and often
Use the document as a consensus builder
Keep refining and reviewing
The Concept Document
Your opportunity to write your own analyst report
Goal: keep them reading
Avoid “straight text”
Candor sells
Support the theme
Be forward looking
The Shareholder Letter
Financial highlights and lowlights
Significant advancements
Challenges/problems
Customers/deals/partnerships
Acquisitions/divestitures
Ten Potential Topics
Market trends and assessments
Governance update
Environmental/social initiatives
Community involvement
Outlook for next year
Ten Potential Topics (continued)
Opportunity to be creative
Core values
Case studies
Q&A formats
Employee focused
Operations Section
Investors don’t read long documents on screen
.PDFs must have bookmarks
Interactive Annual Reports
Printing capability/management
Readability
Web Considerations
617-542-5300www.InvestorRelations.com
