By Alec Hogg
A good part of Friday morning was spent listening to the Richemont results webcast. It was fascinating hearing how investment analysts honed in on one aspect of the business – the watch buyback – ensuring anyone listening got plenty of meat to add to the bones of the official results.
Webcasts are a hugely under-appreciated investment tool. They offer any interested party the opportunity to eavesdrop on conversations which were previously only available to an elite. Such exclusive access previously enjoyed by insiders is rapidly falling away.
Europe’s new MiFID II regulations forces research analysts to pay for “corporate access” – face-to-face meetings with company management that gave them an advantage over retail investors. And as webcasts become increasingly popular among companies, the gap continues to narrow.
In this age of plentiful information, there is no longer any excuse for being uninformed.
