29 November 2023

2023 a year of headwinds, inflation, and continued rate hikes


GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communications and Media Advisor


It was in early May of 2023 that the World health organization announced Covid-19 was no longer a global health emergency. We are, however, still working through the economic disruption caused by COVID, compounded by other significant geo-political events, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has helped to drive post-pandemic inflation to multi-decade highs in most of the world.

In an attempt to rein in Australian inflation, we have seen the Reserve Bank of Australia raise the cash rate by a quarter of a percent five times during 2023.  And while the tempo and quantum of these raises does not match the eight hikes during 2022, their impact on some already stretched household budgets is very much being felt. In turn access to growth capital has been restrained, consumer discretionary stocks are feeling the impact of household belt tightening, and the construction sector is experiencing building approvals at 11-year lows during 2023.

Away from the world of business and finance the success of the Matilda’s in reaching the semi-final of the FIFA women’s world cup, held in Australia, captivated the nation as did the failure of the Voice to Parliament referendum.

Keeping a watchful eye on guidance

Against this backdrop the FIRST Edition, the monthly newsletter published by FIRST Advisers, story that our audience found most captivating was the Approach to Guidance in 2023 and Same Day Reporting blog in August. It is not really surprising that, faced with economic headwinds of rising inflation, input costs and interest rates, companies are keen to know how their guidance compares to their peers and the wider market. Our analysis of reporting patterns revealed 81% of companies include some form of guidance in their 2023 Full Year results up from 53% in 2022.

Push back on the role of ESG

ESG has been another theme that has featured in our reviews of the most read FIRST Edition content of recent years. This year the Can ESG survive the political pushback? Blog was the second most viewed. It looked at the conflicting forces of investors desire for companies to embed ESG standards and principles in their disclosures and ‘anti-woke’ regulations seeking to dictate what factors institutional investors can consider when managing investments.

ESG issues, as a focus area for investors and Proxy Advisors, also featured in the third most clicked on newsletter article, Key Trends Leading into the 2023 AGM Season, alongside remuneration reports and Board composition. We noted HESTA as a front runner in promoting active investment to influence companies around addressing climate change rather than divestment.

How to win friends and influence people

Understanding the voting intention of institutional investors ahead of an AGM was at the core of our 4th most read article – Proxy Management and the Value of Vote Tracking. FIRST Advisers vote tracking, which combines our leading in-house shareholder analytics with expert Investor Relations advice, creates opportunities for companies to engage with the key shareholders to ensure they are fully informed and potentially create a favourable change in their voting intentions.

Rounding out our top 5 newsletter articles in the Using ASX Guidance Note 8 to Manage Earnings Surprises from back in May. This article explored how a company can assess if they are likely to surprise the market with an earnings announcement. We highlighted how a company needs to assess the impact on share valuation rather simply the magnitude of the earnings surprise when deciding what needs to be disclosed. In retrospect the interest on this earnings surprises blog may have foreshadowed the levels of interest we saw in our analysis of corporate guidance in the most clicked on blog in August.

Keeping a finger on the pulse of 2024

The jury is still out on whether we are at the end of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s rate rising cycle and what impact the rises that have already been announced will have on listed companies into 2024. As for inflation, Australian CPI came in at 5.4% in the September quarter, which is much higher than the RBA’s target of 2% to 3%. There is, however, evidence of a deceleration in inflation, CPI was at 6% in the June quarter and 7% in the March quarter.

As 2023 draws to a close it does feels like we are near a peak in the rate rising cycle and FIRST Advisers, through our FIRST Edition newsletter, will continue to provide insights and updates on key issues of interest to investor relations in 2024. As an integrated IR consultancy, we combine expert advice backed by our leading edge, in-house analytics capabilities to add value to a company’s IR function and help build a supportive shareholder base. We also offer our best wishes to our clients and business partners for the festive period.


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How to identify which retail brokers are trading my company’s shares


SALONI SURI, Shareholder Analytics An important question many IR professionals ask is – who are the owners of their company’s shares, and who is trading those shares? Using Beneficial ownership analysis, we can help identify the investors that hold a company’s shares. However, when it comes to trading by retail shareholders, identifying the brokers who […]

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30 May 2022

Custodians on the share register


SALONI SURI, Shareholder Analytics In a previous blog, we talked about the structure of the share register. Common accounts on a share register include Retail Investors, Company Directors and Management, and Custodial or Nominee accounts. In this blog we will take a closer look at Custodians. Custodians’ accounts can be the most prominent shareholders on […]

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30 March 2022

STOCK BORROWING AND LENDING 101


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28 October 2021

Why Intraday trading volumes may not impact a share register


SALONI SURI, Investor Relations Executive A common question asked by our clients is why they see more volume traded on market than captured in the investor tracking report over a period of time. Trading volumes and Underlying Beneficial Ownership Most of our clients experience large trading volumes on market but not all trading is reflected […]

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31 May 2021

All you need to know about Short Selling


SALONI SURI, Investor Relations Executive. Overview Short selling is a simple concept—an investor borrows a stock, sells the stock, and then buys the stock back to return it to the lender. In the period between selling borrowed stock and buying it back the investor is said to be ‘Short’ of stock, hence the term short […]

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30 March 2021

Who’s really on your register?


IDENTIFYING THE BENEFICIAL OWNERS OF SHARES   ROWAN CLARKE, INVESTOR RELATIONS The ability to interrogate a company’s share register to identify its beneficial owners provides important information to Directors. In addition to identifying who is making decisions to buy and sell shares, it enables the Board and senior management to identify such things as where […]

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30 June 2020

A new number 3 share registry


GILES RAFFERTY, Corporate Communications. An interview with Ben Kay, Executive Director, Automic At FIRST Advisers our shareholder analytics team works with all registries in the delivery of beneficial ownership analysis reports to our clients. We have watched the increasing penetration of Automic Group as a new player in the registry market in recent years and […]

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2 October 2018

The Rising Tide of Passive Investment


Dan Jones, Shareholder Analytics and IR The popularity of passive investment amongst institutional and retail shareholders continues to grow and for good reason. Passive funds have outperformed active in each year since the GFC. The term ‘passive’, however, may well be misleading. While it does describe a manager’s approach to automated stock selection and investment, […]

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10 April 2017

The Institutional Voting Process at AGM’s and the Value of Vote Tracking


Daniel Jones, Shareholder Analytics The Scenario We’ve all seen it; a company in the midst of a contentious voting situation at an AGM with management nervously waiting on the final proxy vote count. Less than 48 hours before proxy voting is due to close, a significant number of votes are lodged with the Share Registry […]

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3 November 2016

The Activist – Pariah or Positive Catalyst for Change?


VICTORIA GEDDES, ECECUTIVE DIRECTOR The role played by the activist in the US capital markets has moved over the past 10-15 years from pariah to one of being a positive catalyst for change. Today proxy contests associated with nominations of independent directors for board seats are more likely to be won by activists than the […]

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2 June 2016

Activist Investing Comes of Age


VICTORIA GEDDES, ECECUTIVE DIRECTOR In the past 5 years, post-GFC in particular, the activist investor has become firmly established as a recognised investor category within the funds management universe. Companies are starting to build into their investor relations strategy protocols that quickly elevate early signs of shareholder discontent up to the board. Politely acknowledging, but […]

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11 February 2016

IR Managers: Think your firm has no peers? Think again!


I’ve heard it time and time again. “We cannot target investors based on a peer analysis because we… …have no peers …no direct peers” …no local peers” …no peers of the same size” To you that subscribe to this view I would like to challenge your definition of a peer. Whilst in your eyes a […]

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30 November 2015

It’s Enough to Give Your CEO Nightmares


FIRST Advisers, Investor Tracking and Solicitation An unknown shareholder has doubled their shareholding in your company overnight but they can’t be identified because they are protected by privacy legislation in their offshore jurisdiction. Or suddenly one day that unassuming one per cent shareholding held in a prime broker intermediary account disappears and is replaced by […]

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22 June 2015

The Right – and Wrong – Way to Target Investors


Ron Cameron, Senior Adviser, Investor Relations Public companies seeking to court new investors and build relations with existing ones will almost always be told by some register analysis providers that they should focus on targeting those investors with underweight or overweight positions in their stock, relative to a particular index. In other words, it’s those […]

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2 December 2014

7 tips for Soliciting Shareholder Vote


In an age when the interactions between listed companies and their shareholders are increasingly automated and carried out electronically, the relatively low tech practice of soliciting votes still has a decisive role to play when companies need to win support from investors. The two strike rule at annual general meetings, increasingly bold activist investors and […]

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