The only constant on Wall Street is change. In recent years, the continued consolidation of investment banks has resulted in fewer investment banks and a diminished number of sell-side analysts. Sell-side analysts continue to migrate to the buy-side and those who remain are limited to covering stocks for which there is an economic payback for coverage. On the buy-side, high turnover funds now outnumber long-term buy and hold investors, and activist investors proliferate the investment landscape. Against this backdrop of converging trends, companies must define their own investor relations strategies and implement tactical programs to meet their objectives.

A successful investor relations effort is the result of company performance and appropriate market perception of that performance. We work with clients to help them understand how investors value their businesses and how we can positively impact investor perception through communication and investor and media outreach.

Our investor relations programs are geared toward helping companies:

• Achieve a sustainable and appropriate valuation for their stock
• Achieve stock trading liquidity consistent with the company's size and industry
• Build a solid corporate reputation
• Build a financial brand that supports activities ranging from marketing products and services to attracting and retaining the best people

We do this by:

• Communicating with Wall Street consistently and credibly
• Increasing the investment community's awareness and understanding of the company's investment story and value creation strategies
• Appropriately setting and managing expectations
• Explaining risk factors
• Implementing effective Wall Street marketing campaigns

Corporate positioning and message development
IR strategy and planning
Guidance and performance metrics
Financial reporting
Financial news and calendar management
Investor mix/analyst coverage
Disclosure and regulatory compliance
Internal training for IR and PR teams
Presentation training
Transaction communications
Crisis communications
Corporate communications
Issues management
Pre-IPO and IPO support
Board presentations

Shareholder and analyst relations
Institutional investor/sell-side analyst targeting
Dealing with activist investors
Investment banker introductions
Investor feedback
Non-deal road shows
Investor & Analyst Day meetings
Retail investor marketing campaigns
Wall Street conference attendance and logistics
Annual meetings

Investor presentations
Investment profiles and fact sheets
Financial and non-financial press releases
Web site content
Annual reports

In the best of all worlds, a company should look and act like a public company well in advance of becoming one. Our team has a wealth of experience helping companies navigate the IPO process and hit the ground running in the aftermarket. We have helped dozens of companies streamline the IPO process by handling many aspects of the pre-IPO investor relations program independently. Eliminating as much distraction as possible enables management to spend more time on its top priority-building and managing the business to achieve a high IPO valuation.

A common misperception is that IR counsel is needed only after a company begins trading. In our experience, waiting this long before forming an investor relations strategy and engaging an investor relations firm can place a company at a decided disadvantage compared to better prepared companies. Areas of expertise include:

• Message development and corporate positioning
• Peer group identification/analysis
• Peer group monitoring
• Banker and syndicate group introductions
• Wall Street conference opportunities
• IPO registration statement review
• Financial and non-financial metrics determination
• IPO road show presentation training
• Analysis of IPO road show investors
• Employee communications
• Counsel and training on disclosure, quiet period and guidance considerations
• Quarterly earnings preparation
• Press and investor inquiry procedures
• Corporate press release strategy, composition and procedures
• IR Web site development
• PR coordination
• Financial media relations
• Investor kit development and fulfillment
• Coordination of listing day events
• Post-IPO investor relations planning
• Aftermarket investor pipeline development

Putting in place the appropriate investor relations infrastructure and public company protocol in advance of going public can help ensure a smooth transition to public company life. A company's first couple of quarters as a newly public company set the tone for the long term. It's important to be focused and ready.

Our team has provided clients with transaction communications advice and guidance for numerous M&A, debt and equity transactions. Our M&A experience includes working with both buyers and sellers in large and small transactions. We work hand-in-hand with our clients and their advisors as part of the transaction team. Our turnkey approach begins with helping our clients understand how a transaction will be received by the Street, media and other stakeholders. Next, we develop a message platform that explains why the deal makes sense to each constituent, craft documents for all parties affected and develop a plan for launch day.

• Transaction time and responsibility schedule
• Core message development
• Leak strategy
• Transaction press release
• Transaction fact sheet
• Investor, employee, customer, partner, vendor communications and Q&A
• Conference call scripts
• Launch day planning
• Media planning/outreach

Handling a crisis situation effectively can make or break a company and its corporate reputation. Financial Profiles has significant experience working with companies through a variety of crisis scenarios, and one of our founders is also a Senior Counselor at The Abernathy MacGregor Group, one of the top crisis and financial PR firms in the country. Financial Profiles typically partners with Abernathy MacGregor on difficult crisis situations.

• Significant earnings surprises
• Activist investors
• Management and Board transitions
• Corporate reorganizations
• Options backdating
• Stock exchange listing issues
• Government investigations
• Security breaches
• Litigation support
• Employee layoffs
• Headquarters relocation
• Bankruptcy filings

Financial Profiles conducts media outreach campaigns for companies that want to raise their profiles through positive coverage in the financial, business or trade media. In certain instances, such as a crisis, we have also worked with companies to mitigate media coverage. We have a solid understanding of how the media operates and we help clients evaluate the pros and cons of media opportunities.

• Media strategy
• Story angle development
• Media outreach
  • Business, financial, trade publications
  • Print, on-line, broadcast
  • Local, regional, national
• Editorial calendar research and review
• Media monitoring
• Media audits
• By-lined articles
• Press kit and collateral development
• Media training

Financial Profiles helps clients develop and implement effective corporate communications strategies and materials.

• Marketing press releases
• Marketing brochures
• Investor/public relations collaboration
• Speeches
• Presentation decks
• Web content and blogging
• Employee newsletters

In our experience both qualitative and quantitative research can go a long way toward explaining a valuation gap. Most of our client programs include an element of research. Clients also engage us for discrete research projects such as perception studies, media audits or best practices benchmarking.

Understanding market perceptions is critical to developing a compelling investment thesis and determining opportunities to better communicate about issues that could help drive valuation.

• Perception studies
• Best practices benchmarking
• Sell-side research monitoring
• Peer group monitoring and analysis
• Ownership and trading analysis
• Media and Web portal audits
• Media audits