InsuranceIR's Blog

Kudos to Dominic Jones for putting together a useful reference guide called Step by step: how to do an advisory earnings release.

Dominic is the founder of IRWebReport.com and President of IR Web Reporting International Inc. He has more than 20 years of experience in journalism, investor education and online investor relations communications.

I’ll admit I have a few — very modest — quibbles with the exact steps he describes.  But I’m in general agreement with the concept.

In my view, advisory releases of web-based information are the future of public company disclosure. First off, the process should just be simpler (after any necessary learning curve).

Second, the potential — cost- and effort-free — improvement in communications seems unlimited. A very basic example:

• Discussion of quarterly premiums includes a statement that “our new BOP product has been well received by agents and policyholders …”
• Elsewhere on the company’s site, as part of the organization’s ongoing marketing communications, there is a page devoted to that new product, with coverage details and feature highlights. The marketing and communication teams have had that language (for external viewing) approved by all relevant internal parties.
• A motivated investor might have made the connection, now it is simple and we can do it for them with almost no effort.

I would add that companies also benefit from greater control over the appearance, format and accuracy of the information being disclosed and should see substantial cost savings.

Hopefully investors will benefit because companies can focus greater resources on content and less on process (again, after the learning curve).  In any case, investors should see companies providing information in more user-friendly formats, e.g., excel spreadsheets for tabular data.

Filed under: Advisory news releases, Investor Relations, Quick tips |