More than 40 Investor Relations (IR) practitioners and stakeholders took part in a workshop titled "How to create an award-winning IR programme” organised by Bahrain Bourse and Middle East Investor Relations Association (Meira). 

 

The workshop, held at the Harbour House, Bahrain Financial Harbour, which was hosted by GFH Financial Group, comes as part of Meira’s and Bahrain Bourse’s joint efforts to develop IR capabilities and advance listed companies investor relations programmes and promote best IR practices in the region. 

 

The one-day event, attracted practitioners and stakeholders from various listed companies attended the session, with several discussions on key implications regarding the best practices in annual reports and IR programmes from an investor relations perspective, followed by exclusive networking opportunities to converse with other IR professionals and market practitioners in the region.

 

IR toolkit

During the workshop, panels and presentations, delegates discussed award-winning annual reports and improving awards submissions, creating and delivering an award-winning IR programme, and how to build and deploy an IR toolkit.  

 

Sessions highlighted the importance of addressing the key metrics that uniquely position the IR story of each issuer, and enabling it to attain significant IR awards. The workshop included presentations delivered by the Middle East Investor Relations Association (Meira) and international business communications consultancy; Instinctif Partners.  

 

At the forefront

Commenting on the event, Marwa Al Maskati, Director of Marketing & Business Development – Bahrain Bourse & Chapter Head, Meira-Bahrain Chapter, said: “Bahrain Bourse has always been at the forefront of highlighting the value of strong investor relations practices throughout Bahrain’s capital market. With the increase in number of cross-listed companies in other jurisdictions, there is growing emphasis on the importance of open and ongoing engagement with regional and international investors and analysts, and it is important for listed companies to equip themselves with the right IR tools to transform their IR story. We aspire to continuously expand Bahrain’s IR landscape, and collaborations such as these can provide professional growth possibilities for IR practitioners within the local market.”

 

Instructive discussion

John Gollifer, General Manager – Meira, stated: “The Meira Bahrain Chapter, led by the Bahrain Bourse, continues to chart an IR path for listed companies in Bahrain. IR Workshops, like today’s that feature best practice, are an important way to enable open, yet instructive discussion among IR peers and experts. In this way, we can address the competition for the attention of the investment community and the roles that we can all play to differentiate our IR stories.”

 

Bahrain Bourse and Meira have officially launched the Meira chapter in Bahrain during April 2019 with the aim of developing and enhancing best practices in Investor Relations (IR) across Bahrain.

 

The founding members of the Meira chapter in Bahrain include Aluminium Bahrain (‘ALBA’), Bank ABC, Bahrain Telecommunications Company (‘Batelco’), Bahrain Bourse, Ithmaar Holding, National Bank of Bahrain, and SICO BSC (c).-- TradeArabia News Service