Citigate study on the publication of annual results 2011

Published in our newsletter of 19 April 2012 - The past few months have seen companies publish their annual results for 2011. Each year, Citigate First Financial researches how companies listed on the NYSE Euronext (AEX, AMX and AScX) publish their results. This year, we included a total of 73 companies in our research.

Key findings

Last year, we found that smaller funds (Small Caps) were increasingly adopting the approach taken by larger funds (AEX index and Midcap). Now it turns out that AEX index funds are responding to this by moving away from the rest again. Last year, there were very few differences in how companies published their press releases, in terms of language, time and day of publication. However, this year, the AEX index funds chose to do things differently: most AEX index funds published their annual results press release solely in English (annual results 2010:39%), as opposed to both Dutch and English. The time of publication was still between 7:00 and 7:30 am, unchanged from previous years. The larger funds continue to publish their results in February, while the Small Caps publish their figures in March.

In reviewing the meetings companies organise for representatives from the media and/or analysts, it is noteworthy that almost half of Amsterdam’s Small Caps do not organise such meetings anymore (annual results 2010: 33%). This percentage is considerably lower among the larger funds. Over the years, very few companies have organised webcasts of their media presentation, while the larger funds do tend to webcast their analyst meetings.

You will find more details on the findings of the study below.

Language press release 

The number of AEX-listed companies that published their press release in both Dutch and English dropped considerably, only 40% this year, compared with 61% last year. An increasing number of AEX-listed companies chose to publish their press release solely in English. The vast majority of Midcap (annual results 2010: 75%) and Small Cap (annual results 2010: 71%) companies still opt to publish in both languages.

Time of publication press release

In line with previous years, most companies sent out their annual results press release between 7:00 and 7:30 in the morning. This year saw a considerable rise among Midcap and Small Cap funds publishing at this time compared with previous years. Among the Midcap this number rose to 63% from 45% for the 2010 results. Among Small Caps, the number of companies publishing in this time slot rose to 55% from 41% for the 2010 results. Fewer companies published their results between 7:30 and 8:00 am. A small number of Small Cap companies send their results press release out after 8:00 am. None of the AEX index funds do this, though some choose to publish EOB.

Day of publication press release

In previous years, Thursday was by far the most popular day of the week for publication. A greater number of AEX funds this year moved from the Thursday to other days of the week, with the companies publishing 2011 results on Thursday slipping to 32% this year, down from 48% for the 2010 results. This may be a strategic move aimed at generating greater attention for their annual results. The Small Caps tend to publish on Fridays more often than the larger funds, this seems to be an alternative for publishing on a Thursday (annual results 2010 Thursday: 58%; annual results 2010 Friday: 21%).

Date publication press release

This year, the majority (63%) of AMX funds published their annual results in February, like the AEX funds, up from 42% the previous year. The majority of the Small Cap funds continued to publish their results in March. This year saw 63% of Amsterdam’s Midcap funds publish their results in February, the same figure seen for the 2009 full-year results, so it seems the 42% seen last year (for the publication of the 2010 results) was a one-off departure. As in previous years, only a very small minority of companies published their results in January.

Press conference and / or analysts meeting

Of all companies that organise a physical meeting for media and analysts, AEX and AMX companies generally choose to meet with both target groups separately. Almost half of the Small Caps fail to organise any physical meeting at all. For AEX index funds, this percentage is still low at 12%, compared with 13% and 9% the previous two years. There appears to have been a slight shift among the AEX index companies compared with last year, as they organised fewer press conferences. This year, 44% of AEX index funds organised separate meetings for the press and analysts, compared with 52% last year and 60% the year before. This year saw 32% organise meetings for analysts alone, up from 26% last year and 13% the year before that.

Webcast press conference

In the years we have been conducting this study, we have seen that very few companies organise webcasts for the media. The number has actually fallen among the Small Caps in recent years, with a mere 5% organising webcasts this year, down from 14% last year and 27% the year before that. The percentage remained virtually unchanged among the larger funds.

Webcast analysts meeting

As in previous years, the study showed again that more of the larger funds (AEX and AMX) webcast analysts meeting, or organise a separate webcast for analysts. In most cases, these are audio webcasts, like the ones held for the press.