Survey of Investors
The UK Investor Relations Society published in November 2002 the findings of its annual survey, the aim of which is to find out how investors judge the level of corporate information disclosure in the UK. The survey was conducted together with the MORI polling organisation, for which 96 investors in the City of London were interviewed face-to-face between 17th June and 3rd September 2002.

Key findings of the Survey
Annual Report: 52% of investors and 57% of analysts said they find the annual report a useful source of information about companies. It ranked as the second most popular source of information after broker research reports.

Corporate investor relations: 68% of analysts thought the quality had improved in the last two years, and 28% no change.

Judging companies: quality of management and financial performance are the two key factors both investors and analysts mention as of most importance. Cash flow and market position have both become more important indicators in recent years the survey noted.

Disclosure: this was the first survey since 1997 when full disclosure of accounts was considered as important as availability of management.

Sell-side research: Only 6% of investors gave a higher weight to brokerage research over their own in-house research, while 45% gave a higher weight to in-house research.

Interviews: both analysts and investors say that face-to-face interviews with company officials are their single most important source of information.

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