At the “PLC Award” ceremony in London on 7 March 2013, Provident Financial picked up the Best Investor Communication award. The PLC Awards are open to all companies on the London Stock Exchange, other than the FTSE 100. Seven of the eight awards, including that for Best Investor Communications, are voted on by FT readers and a City panel.
The awards organisers said of the Best Investor Communications award: “Success in communicating effectively with both professional and private investors and to shareholders and potential shareholders is the main criteria behind this award. The winner of this award will use the wide variety of communication tools available to communicate in a timely and efficient manner with all shareholders. The use of innovative and effective communication techniques will be taken into account by the Voting Panel.”
Writing in the Financial Times, Andrew Baxter said of the win: “Provident Financial's business is relatively simple - it lends moneys and collects it - but it puts a lot of effort into investor relations because the investment community's demographic is very different to its customers. The company believes its IR programme fits with that of a large FTSE 100 group. Innovations last year include a web app to enable shareholders to view key website data on their tablet devices and mobile phones including videos, presentations and results announcements. Independent research found that Provident Financial had a well presented, comprehensive, user-friendly, best practice annual report. The website has plenty of best practice content - strategy, marketplace, investment case, webcasts and evidence of thought leadership.
Andrew Fisher, Financial Director of Provident Financial said: “We are delighted to have won the “PLC Awards” Best Investor Communications award. We take investor communications very seriously for small and large investors alike and so it is gratifying to have our efforts recognised by this prestigious award.”