The results presented here are based on a surrey, in which 61% of the
top 500 UK quoted companies participated, on the organizational aspect
s of company investor relations activities. The survey established the
involvement of the various directors in managing and executing the in
vestor relations function. The Chief Executive and Finance Director we
re most heavily involved, and the average board of directors spent 37
days a year on investor relations. 52% of respondents had a designated
investor relations officer. The most common organizational arrangemen
t was for investor relations to be part of the Finance Director's depa
rtment. The average salary bill and budget for the investor relations
function were pound 107,000 and pound 180,000 respectively. 79% of res
pondents used an external investor relations consultant. Only 19% of r
esopondents had a formal policy or written description stating the obj
ectives and responsibilities of the investor relations function. Mutli
variate analysis indicated that the existence of an investor relations
officer in the company was associated with size, overseas Listings an
d positive opinions on the value of investor relations meetings. Compa
nies that had been privatized and those with a high firm specific risk
were more likely to have an investor relations officer. Copyright (C)
1996 Elsevier Science Ltd