Date: 11/6/2017
Event start time: 12:00 AM
Event end time: 5:00 PM
Category: Seminar
Price: Member Fee: $1,699; Non-Member Fee: $2,199
Register

Printable Registration Form (PDF)

This course will help you to gain a good grounding in all aspects of finance needed for IR and corporate communications. In addition to accounting essentials and how to understand earnings releases, we cover capital markets, the perspectives of your key financial audiences, economics essentials, an overview of valuation and the concept of shareholder value – everything you need to tell a compelling investment story – all in an accessible way for nonfinance specialists and designed specifically for corporate communicators.

IRC™ credential holders can earn up to 3 professional development units (PDUs) per day. More information is available at www.niri.org/certification.

Who Should Attend?
  • Investor Relations executives who do not have a finance or capital markets background
  • Corporate communicators who would like to understand the language of the C-suite and the financial markets
  • Those starting a career in IR or media relations in a listed company environment
OUTCOMES
  • Understand the capital markets and how IR and corporate communications fit in
  • Grasp the essentials of economics and how companies are valued
  • Appreciate the perspectives of investors, analysts and the financial media
  • Understand the financial content of earnings releases including headline key performance indicators, income statements and balance sheets
  • Get to grips with jargon and develop your financial fluency
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

The Big Picture
  • The financial markets architecture
  • Raising capital — bonds and shares
  • Who are your shareholders and what do they want?
  • Types of investor and their characteristics
  • The role of investment banks
  • Regulations for listed companies
  • Key financial audiences and what they want
  • Writing financial news releases
  • The importance of guidance and managing expectations
  • The FinanceTalking investment game
Economics Essentials
  • Brief history of money
  • Overview of the current economic climate
  • Government debt levels in developed markets and their impact
  • How asset prices move
  • Bubbles and crashes
How Companies are Valued – Overview
  • How listed companies are valued by markets
  • The role of analysts in today’s capital markets
  • Analysts’ perspectives, pressures and typical characteristics
  • The importance of the peer group
Shareholder Value
  • Shareholder value – the shareholders’ perspective
  • Shareholder value – the company’s perspective
  • Characteristics of debt and equity funding
  • Cost of capital and the capital mix
  • Driving growth at the required return
Accounting Essentials
  • The key financial statements and how they fit together
  • The FinanceTalking accounting game
  • The difference between profits and cash
  • Depreciation, amortization and EBITDA
  • Goodwill and impairment
  • US GAAP and IFRS – the main differences and non-GAAP measures
  • How analysts and journalists use your financial information
Working with Financial Information
  • Earnings releases and annual reports
  • Reviewing the balance sheet (statement of financial position)
  • Reviewing the income statement
  • Establishing a trend—how analysts adjust your profit
  • Key performance indicators
  • Earnings per share and dividends
  • Communicating earnings guidance
  • Mock earnings call
Telling Your Investment Story
  • How the numbers tell the story
  • Lessons for earnings releases and annual reports
  • Communicating to achieve fair value
Summary & Conclusion
  • Where to go from here


Speaker(s):

David Yates

David Yates

Partner, FinanceTalking, Ltd.

David joined FinanceTalking in 2009 after nearly thirty years in the City as a corporate lawyer, investment banker and financial PR specialist.

  • Qualified as a solicitor in 1982.  Joined Linklaters & Paines, specializing in capital markets and corporate law
  • Joined the corporate finance division of Robert Fleming, London based merchant bank, in 1984.  Spent three years on secondment with Jardine Fleming in Australia between 1987 and 1990.
  • Began his Financial PR career in 1995 with Gavin Anderson & Co.
  • Joined Financial Dynamics (FD) as a partner at the end of 1998 and commenced their coverage of the Life Sciences sector.
  • Retired from FD in March 2009 following sale of the company to FTI Technologies Inc. of the US.

During his financial PR career in the City, David built a reputation as one of the leading practitioners in London and acquired experience in all aspects of the financial markets, particularly M&A and IPOs.  Together with his experience in the law and the investment banking sector, he has an in-depth knowledge of the workings of the City, the roles that each of the institutions play in the markets and how business is covered by the media.