Financial PR - Established Brands Winner

WHEN it started its business, Financial PR implemented a branding strategy to distinguish itself from the usual public relations (PR) work.

The company was founded in 2001, when there were less than five "serious" investor relations (IR) companies in Singapore.

For the past seven years, it has maintained a 23 per cent market share, having launched 34 initial public offerings and three reverse takeovers. It counts some 50 listed companies as its clients.

The Established Brands award, says its managing director Kathy Zhang (above), is "an encouragement and much-needed recognition for our profession. There are some 40 players in our field, but only about 35 per cent of all listed companies in Singapore use professional investor relations (IR) services".

Says Ms Zhang, 37: "Branding makes clear what is not immediately apparent and is thus easily misunderstood. The widespread practice is to engage a PR firm which will do IR work as an administrative service.

"In fact, IR is a value-add service," she adds, explaining that tasks such as shareholder relationship, media handling, investment analysis, corporate strategy and event management should be innovative, not merely administrative functions.

To do so, the company zoomed in on its methodology. "IR is more than basic PR skills, it helps listed companies and companies looking to float uncover their intrinsic values. Through market analysis and communications, we make strategies that may impact positively on the client's market value. This is what we call strategic investor relations," says Ms Zhang.

"Branding systematises our workflow and forces our company to become dependent on our culture - the brand - instead of the key individuals running the firm. In this way, the company can be built to last."

Besides Singapore, Financial PR has subsidiaries in Hong Kong and Malaysia. "In the United States, people who join the field of IR are experienced ex-fund managers, analysts, institutional sales associates and financial journalists. Over here, we have a limited pool of IR professionals. Actually, IR is an exciting field that will be in great demand with the growth of the Asian equities markets," she says.

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