Dubai Financial Market company launches new Investor Relations WebPages

The new IR pages were developed in cooperation with Thomson Reuters.

This initiative reflects the evolving trend amongst public joint stock companies to adopt IR best practices. According to the results of a questionnaire undertaken at DFM's latest IR workshop, the majority of respondents (63%), representing 19 DFM listed, are actively targeting new investors.

Furthermore, 58% of the respondents have investor relations specific WebPages, of which over half include IR contact details, historical financial results and upload the results onto their websites within an hour of the release. Finally, 74% of the respondents operate an in-house IR function rather than outsourcing to an external Consultancy.

By utilizing the newly renovated IR pages, DFM company's current and potential shareholders can stay in touch with the latest developments and have immediate access to the most up to date information and news on DFM, enabling them to make informed investment decisions based on the highest level of transparency.

The new IR pages feature many 'value added' information in addition to e-mail alerts and RSS feeds to stay up to date with the latest DFM information.

It is noteworthy to mention that DFM established a new IR department in November 2008. The department started its activities by working on various initiatives to drive closer investor relations. The development of enhanced IR pages on www.dfm.ae was on top of the department's agenda. In addition to this, the department is engaged in the preparation of several initiatives with the purpose of driving best practices in IR amongst public joint stock companies.

Commenting on this development Mr. Essa Kazim, Executive Chairman, Dubai Financial Market Company, said:

"The key objective of IR is to keep the capital markets audience informed of the developments that influence the company, fulfilling the best corporate governance standards and reporting requirements, which remain a significant task and responsibility. The new IR pages provide shareholders with the latest information about the company's performance, financial results, main indicators, and contact details, all of which will help investors have a better understanding of the company to make informed decisions under the highest level of transparency."

"We are confident that the introduction of the new IR pages on www.dfm.ae will not only meet investor's high expectations but also achieve greater excellence in investor relations to ensure that our business community is fully aware of DFM's latest developments and information about the company, which demonstrates our continued commitment to enhance transparency and adopt best practices," he added.

Alex Menage, Business Development Manager for Thomson Reuters commented, "We are delighted to have DFM using Thomson Reuters IR Website solutions. Recent surveys show that the IR website is the first point of contact for Investors and DFM is embracing this trend by maximizing communication to its stakeholders. With Thomson Reuters IR Website and its distribution platform, DFM benefits not only from the latest best practices in terms of Functionalities and Content but also from Thomson Reuters distribution platforms utilized by more than 200,000 financial professionals around the world."