Investor Access/Shareholder Intelligence

Challenge

An industrial manufacturer focused on the aerospace & defense segment, with a $40 million market cap, appointed a new CEO to drive a turnaround of the business after many years of deteriorating sales with a poor balance sheet.  The shareholder base had dwindled and no analysts covered the stock.  IMS was selected to communicate the turnaround strategy, rebuild the shareholder base as the changes took hold and assist in creating a currency to support their acquisition strategy.

Solution

IMS mobilized a one-year plan to rebrand the company to Wall Street.  The plan focused on value and turnaround investors initially, evolving to also focus on growth investors as the company began to achieve improved performance. 

Within 30 days, IMS put the new CEO on the road with meetings in NYC and Boston.  Over the course of the first 12 months, roadshows or conference presentations took place across the United States in markets including: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Richmond, Baltimore and Connecticut.  IMS also coordinated multiple investor visits to the company’s manufacturing facility and took the lead on setting up many one-on-one phone introductions.  In the wake of each investor activity, IMS obtained and analyzed feedback in order to continually improve the Company’s presentation. 

Results

During the first six months of the Company’s focused IR activity, they added three filing holders and several smaller funds became open market investors.  Furthermore, targeted interaction with sell side analysts resulted in their inclusion at three “invitation only” conferences (Barrington, B. Riley and Cowen). 

Over the course of the next 24 months the enterprise value of the business moved to the high end of the peer group range, providing management with a strong currency to help support a successful multi-year acquisition strategy.