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Leila Reuter - Investor Relations

Leila Reuter, now a consultant at communications search company Taylor Bennett, specialises in financial PR and investor relations. She began her own communications career working in the former at a large PR agency, and then moved into the latter, working in-house at a major bank. We spoke to Leila about her decision to move from one to the other, and questioned her on what exactly investor relations involved.

By Unicorn Jobs

So, how did you move from financial PR into investor relations?

A lot of my international clients [at the PR agency] were coming to London – to broaden their share ownership and raise awareness of their companies. They wanted to speak to the investment community. So I gradually built a mini investor relations practice within the agency.

And what is investor relations exactly?

You look after communications with analysts and all the company’s major investors. As in general financial PR at an agency, you are delivering key messages, but here the audience is different. Your role is to educate your audience and – most crucially – manage their expectations, and this often involves putting their misconceptions right. You then feed back the market’s view of your company internally – your bosses need to know what their investors think when they’re drawing up their strategy. This feedback can impact on your company’s dividends – and even the debt levels set by your board. You have to encourage overseas investors to buy your stock and in some companies, CSR [corporate social responsibility] can be your responsibility too.

Phew! That all sounds rather serious

Yes it is a serious role. And there are lots of misconceptions about investor relations.

Such as?

Well you don’t manage the share price. And you often don’t see broker research prior to publication, so you have to think on your feet. Nor do you give investment advice.

But you’re mainly dealing with external audiences?

Not at all. The investor relations team has close relations with the CEO, finance director and the rest or the board as well as the company’s PR, strategy and finance teams.

So how did you shift from agency to in-house?

Having run my “mini IR practice” for a while, I was headhunted to join a new IR team at a big bank.

What was the appeal?

To learn about one company in detail, instead of juggling lots of client companies – to go into more depth than you could ever do at an agency. The relationships were much better. I was lucky. It was a brand new department, created because the company had suddenly grown much bigger over a very short period of time. I was only the second hire and we built it from scratch.

It sounds exciting

It was. We had a fantastic senior management team and were really busy with acquisitions. I loved the M&A [merger and acquisitions] work.

Describe a typical day

Naturally, there was lots of ‘financial calendar’ work. Work would start two months in advance of the [publication of the company’s financial] results. You would need to finish with a clear message, and the stability of working in-house meant you had the best chance to deliver that. The access to the finance director and chief exec was what really made the job interesting. Results day was crazy: at 7am, there would be the announcement; 7.30am, you’d send your release to the financial wire services [such as Reuters], broadsheet papers and financial press; 9.30am, a presentation to analysts; 11.30am, press briefing. In the afternoon you’d make calls to big shareholders, have sell-side briefings, speak to house brokers and more analysts – often going in with the chief financial officer – and finally you’d make sure the website was updated.

What skills do you need to be a good IR person?

You must know your company inside out and have a sound knowledge of the sector; understand numbers and have some financial savvy – accountancy training is perfect. You also have to be more analytical than in general financial PR. You might be reviewing your peer group or looking at analysts’ models [company valuations] – in fact the profession often attracts former analysts.

So you can’t bluff?

Never! It might be humiliating, but if you’re asked something you don’t know you just have to say, “I’ll get back to you”.

Any “golden rules”?

Never panic about short-term share volatility. You must stay calm.

And serious?

The point is that you have to be up to date on UK listing rules, Sarbanes-Oxley [accounting disclosure rules], IFRS [International Financial Reporting Standards] – there’s a long list of very important legislation which you have to stay on top of. The role of IR person is changing all the time – there are regular updates in the listing requirements, and you have to supervise awareness and implementation of these within your company. With more and more regulatory announcements each year and companies having to report to the market more frequently you really need to be on the ball – and work closely with company’s broker.

What are the drawbacks of IR?

Well for a start, everyone thinks they can do it.

And they can’t?

No. As well as the technical skills required, you must be diplomatic and presentable.

Having previously worked at an agency, how did you find working in-house compared. Are you sometimes taken more for granted when working in-house than for an agency?

Sometimes I guess you might be. You could receive more credit and praise from your client when you’re in an agency if you do well and get them lots of coverage for example. But you can build a mutual feeling of loyalty when you work in-house – you’ll get much closer to senior management I think. And you are more likely to literally have a stake in your company because you’ll probably have shares. But then if you want variety, an agency will offer you that – you’ll often be dealing with a variety of clients in many different sectors. It’s a great opportunity to find out what interests you. And then – for a lot of people – a shift to an in-house role comes naturally.

So agency people often end up moving in-house to work for client companies?

Yes they do.

What’s the difference in workload between agency and in-house?

It’s pretty similar to be honest. But as I’ve said, in an agency you have to juggle more – especially during a busy [company results] reporting season.

So back to your career – what happened next?

After about three years I was headhunted to become a headhunter!

So that’s when you joined Taylor Bennett?

Yes. And here I look after placing candidates in IR roles.

But if you hadn’t done that, what would have been your dream job?

Director of HR. I’ve seen that many companies often take people on without much thought about what skills are lacking in a department and how the new person will fit. For those already in place, this can be very frustrating. To use a cliché, I’m a people person, and I’d like to think that I would be good at placing people properly with a complementary skill fit.

How do you think your financial PR and IR experience has helped in your job at Taylor Bennett?

Now I’ve moved into headhunting, I like the fact that I know what it’s like to work in IR, because I can talk to my clients and candidates with confidence about their roles. I know their business from the inside.

This article first appeared in the Finance Talking Careers Centre