Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE), in collaboration with Iridium Investor Relations, has informed that it has launched the fourth annual Investor Relations (IR) Excellence Program, which aims to help listed companies in Qatar further improve investor relations best practices. Since its inception in 2015 as the first recognition program of its kind in the GCC, the IR Excellence Program rewards companies and their leaders for their investor relations achievements.
Mr. Rashid Bin Ali Al-Mansoori, Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Stock Exchange said:
It has never been more important for listed companies to engage in a meaningful dialogue with existing and prospective shareowners that fosters truth and trust. During a time when risks can arise from all angles, it is critical to keep the investment community informed through professional investor relations activities – both locally and internationally. The QSE IR Excellence Program has been created to recognize the best organizations and leaders in Qatar who excel at creating a clear picture about their listed company’s strategic, financial and operational developments, and adhere to the highest standards of transparency and disclosure.
A public voting system and a thorough IR website ranking of all listed companies will be conducted from mid-November to end-December 2018. Both retail and professional members of the investment community will be eligible to vote for the best investor relations efforts by the companies. Iridium Investor Relations, an independent IR advisory specialist, will manage the distribution of emails and questionnaires to a database of over 2,000 regional and international investor on behalf of QSE. The firm will also be responsible for ranking the company’s websites.
Since the program launch in 2015, the IR Excellence Program methodology has been made publicly available to the market every year in advance of the review process. To ensure the credibility of the award, the IR Excellence Program cannot be sponsored.
Qatar National Bank received recognition as the best Qatari firm for IR Excellence in February 2018. The best small (Al Meera), mid (Vodafone) and large cap (Qatar National Bank) companies, as well as the best Chief Financial Officer (Mr. Ramzi Marri of QNB), the best Investor Relations Officer (Mr. Andreas Goldau of Ooredoo) and the best corporate IR website (Ooredoo) in the country, were also recognized.
Mr. Abdul Aziz Al Emadi, Director of Listing Department at QSE, added:
During the first three years of the IR Excellence Program, the QSE focused on creating awareness for the importance of the investor relations function. As a result, a growing number of companies has made improvements to their investor relations efforts. We are now committed to helping more companies adopt international best practice investor relations standards. Building on the momentum that we have created to date, our goal is to take investor relations in Qatar to the next level.