Mum and dad investors can finally keep up with the big players in town

With the launch of the investor portal boardroomradio, smaller investors can now have access to analyst briefings and company presentations at the same time as larger shareholders and brokerage firms.

Traditionally, many companies use conference calls to keep the institutional market informed of developments within the company. While retail investors have access to company announcements, they often miss out on scope and colour a full briefing can bring. This can in effect, create an uneven playing field for investors. 

boardroomradio founders Bill Gair and John Murray have developed an online solution that allows listed companies to simply broadcast their briefing over the telephone to boardroomradio, who then stream the audio on the internet. Given the ready access to the internet many people enjoy, boardroomradio becomes a viable solution for reaching the whole investment community.

Bill Gair, Managing Director, said: “The retail investment community in Australia is growing rapidly thanks in no small way to the baby-boomers and Super Choice of Fund markets". Access to time-critical announcements is a key factor in managing any successful portfolio. The emerging retail market should have the same access – they will not want to wait until the press release comes out, while the big shareholder and analysts get invited to the management briefings.”

Mr Gair said that “similar solutions have been operating in the US, Canada and Europe for a few years, but no equivalent service has been available for Australian listed companies”. 

"Investors can come to our site; use the ‘Event-finder’ to search for events of interest; and can either listen to live audio presentations, or play past company recordings on-demand”, he continued.

“Finally businesses can treat all investors equally when it comes to making company announcements, allowing even personal investors to act in the same time-frames that only the larger firms have been able to in the past”, said Mr Gair.

John Murray spoke about the benefits to business. “This is a really cost-effective solution – developed specifically for frequency of announcements. Where companies may have only broadcast their annual general meetings in the past, they can extend it to include every analyst briefing”, said Mr Murray.

“Of course the smaller businesses who may not have been able to afford any kind of web-cast can now afford a more comprehensive investor relations program”, he continued.

The vision for boardroomradio is to provide a level playing field for all investors, and it would seem that the timing is just right for the changing dynamics of the Australian marketplace.

What others have to say:
"Boardroom Radio will be a valuable tool to help us manage our time and connect with companies whose stories we wouldn't normally hear"
Ben Griffths
Eley Griffiths Group 

“Products like boardroomradio will allow us to keep in touch with more companies, hear their news live and refer to archived presentations"
Michael Brooks, Investment Mgr,
St Helens Investment Management

NOTE
4.1 million baby-boomers will be entering retirement in the next few years, with the time and money to manage their investment. Together with the estimated 4.82 million Australians able to choose their super fund after July 1, 2005, it presents a significant communication challenge.

Bill Gair
Bill is a co-founder and Managing Director of boardroomradio. He is a graduate in Financial Management from New York University (1991) and is an e-commerce pioneer having co-founded one of the first commercial web sites in Australia, travel.com.au, in September 1997, and most recently was the CEO of travel.com.au Limited and lastminute.com Australia .

Bill's experience running a publicly listed company means he understands the challenges a company faces in communicating its investment attractions to the market.

John Murray
John has more than 20 years experience in the Securities Industry, both in Australia and the UK . For the last 12 years John has been an Advisor with Bell Potter, specialising in the Mid Cap area, advising clients and companies. His experience in this field has made him acutely aware of the need for companies to get their message heard, the importance of relating to private client shareholders in the same way a company would relate to institutional shareholders and adherence to continuous disclosure.

For more information contact: 

Christine Harris
Mobile : 0414 621163
Email: charris@boardroomradio.com

With the launch of the investor portal boardroomradio, smaller investors can now have access to analyst briefings and company presentations at the same time as larger shareholders and brokerage firms.

Traditionally, many companies use conference calls to keep the institutional market informed of developments within the company. While retail investors have access to company announcements, they often miss out on scope and colour a full briefing can bring. This can in effect, create an uneven playing field for investors. 

boardroomradio founders Bill Gair and John Murray have developed an online solution that allows listed companies to simply broadcast their briefing over the telephone to boardroomradio, who then stream the audio on the internet. Given the ready access to the internet many people enjoy, boardroomradio becomes a viable solution for reaching the whole investment community.

Bill Gair, Managing Director, said: “The retail investment community in Australia is growing rapidly thanks in no small way to the baby-boomers and Super Choice of Fund markets". Access to time-critical announcements is a key factor in managing any successful portfolio. The emerging retail market should have the same access – they will not want to wait until the press release comes out, while the big shareholder and analysts get invited to the management briefings.”

Mr Gair said that “similar solutions have been operating in the US, Canada and Europe for a few years, but no equivalent service has been available for Australian listed companies”. 

"Investors can come to our site; use the ‘Event-finder’ to search for events of interest; and can either listen to live audio presentations, or play past company recordings on-demand”, he continued.

“Finally businesses can treat all investors equally when it comes to making company announcements, allowing even personal investors to act in the same time-frames that only the larger firms have been able to in the past”, said Mr Gair.

John Murray spoke about the benefits to business. “This is a really cost-effective solution – developed specifically for frequency of announcements. Where companies may have only broadcast their annual general meetings in the past, they can extend it to include every analyst briefing”, said Mr Murray.

“Of course the smaller businesses who may not have been able to afford any kind of web-cast can now afford a more comprehensive investor relations program”, he continued.

The vision for boardroomradio is to provide a level playing field for all investors, and it would seem that the timing is just right for the changing dynamics of the Australian marketplace.

What others have to say:
"Boardroom Radio will be a valuable tool to help us manage our time and connect with companies whose stories we wouldn't normally hear"
Ben Griffths
Eley Griffiths Group 

“Products like boardroomradio will allow us to keep in touch with more companies, hear their news live and refer to archived presentations"
Michael Brooks, Investment Mgr,
St Helens Investment Management

NOTE
4.1 million baby-boomers will be entering retirement in the next few years, with the time and money to manage their investment. Together with the estimated 4.82 million Australians able to choose their super fund after July 1, 2005, it presents a significant communication challenge.

Bill Gair
Bill is a co-founder and Managing Director of boardroomradio. He is a graduate in Financial Management from New York University (1991) and is an e-commerce pioneer having co-founded one of the first commercial web sites in Australia, travel.com.au, in September 1997, and most recently was the CEO of travel.com.au Limited and lastminute.com Australia .

Bill's experience running a publicly listed company means he understands the challenges a company faces in communicating its investment attractions to the market.

John Murray
John has more than 20 years experience in the Securities Industry, both in Australia and the UK . For the last 12 years John has been an Advisor with Bell Potter, specialising in the Mid Cap area, advising clients and companies. His experience in this field has made him acutely aware of the need for companies to get their message heard, the importance of relating to private client shareholders in the same way a company would relate to institutional shareholders and adherence to continuous disclosure.

For more information contact: 

Christine Harris
Mobile : 0414 621163
Email: charris@boardroomradio.com