Virtual and factual shareholder pampering

Company: ArcelorMittalTrend: The Personal ApproachSubject: Investor Relations

What do you see?

The IR section of the ArcelorMittal website can be considered complete. Institutional investors, analysts and particularly private investors truly get their share. Let’s list the facts:

Share information: share price graph, shareholding structure, listings, dividend payment schedule
Extensive overview of outstanding bonds, including links to prospectuses
Analyst coverage, credit ratings, event calendar
Corporate Governance: insider trading, internal control, remuneration schedules

Moreover, private investors are being addressed separately and individually. Each year, the Steel Mogul organizes a retail shareholder event. The presentation and webcast can be found on the website. On top of that, ArcelorMittal created a virtual meeting centre in Second Life, ‘in order to improve the communication and debate with its private investors.’

Why is it effective?

The site may look overcrowded, the design may look textual, but the information is really pampering financial stakeholders. Retail investors in particular have discovered a land of plenty. As they do not have professional sources such as Bloomberg at their disposal, they can find all the valuable information regarding their shares and bonds on the ArcelorMittal site itself.

The question is whether Second Life is geared to the perceptions and needs of private shareholders. And whether there is a future in SL at all. But the fact remains that ArcelorMittal is making a brave attempt to truly interact with (small-scale) private stakeholders as well.

What’s next?

In an ideal world, corporations will manage to strike a delicate balance that offers an IR website that is both informative and attractive. For all kinds of stakeholders with all their different information needs.

And companies will be more conscious of the need to focus on specific, important target groups, such as retail investors. This will enable them to provide tailor-made information and start a dialogue.