MessageBank Survey Finds More Companies Holding Investor Conference Calls; 83% Conduct Calls, up from 76% in 2000; Webcast Use Also Increases.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 4, 2003

A survey of 500 publicly owned companies indicated that 83 percent of those interviewed conducted investor conference calls in 2002, while only 72 percent reported conducting conference calls in a similar survey in 2000.

MessageBank, LLC, a leading provider of conferencing and webcast services to the Investor Relations and Financial Communications marketplace, found that almost all companies conducting calls do so for quarterly earnings, guidance, mid-quarter updates and newsworthy events that may affect markets and stock prices.

"The increasing number of companies conducting conference calls indicates a strong willingness by publicly owned companies to communicate with the investment community and shareholders to conform with the SEC's Fair Disclosure regulations" said Steven Fink, Managing Partner of MessageBank.

The survey also found that 90 percent of the companies, versus 66 percent in 2000, are providing digital replays of their calls to accommodate interested parties unable to listen to the live event; while 75 percent of the companies request a mailed audiocassette or CD. Some 77 percent of companies provide a toll-free number to accommodate listeners; 34 percent a toll number. In excess of 80 percent of companies audio stream the conference call via the web.

Whereas in 2000 only 14 percent of the companies surveyed opened their calls to media, 2002 saw the number almost double to 27 percent. Fifty-five percent of companies allow private investors on the calls, versus 38 percent in the previous survey. Eighty-five percent of the companies surveyed allowed all conference call participants, including financial media, to ask questions.

"There is no question," Mr. Fink added, "that companies have become much more apt to disclose information to their constituents. Either by telephone or the internet they are reaching a much broader audience."

In addition to the increase in the use of conference calls, the survey found that the investor relations section of a public company's website has seen a dramatic expansion and increased traffic during the past two years. Eighty-six percent of companies in the survey presently have home pages, compared with 55 percent in 2000. Another 15 percent of the companies reported that they expect to have an IR section of their website operating within a year. Most often, the Investor Relations section contains press and earnings releases, detailed financial/governance information and SEC filings.

The survey also found that:

-- 63 percent of responding IR officers utilize e-mail to communicate with analysts and investors, but only 11 percent use e-mail to deliver actual earnings results.

-- 93 percent of companies continue to use blast-fax capabilities to distribute financial results, in addition to e-mail.

-- 71 percent of small-cap companies (market caps under $500 million) use e-mail to communicate with the market on a daily basis, while 52 percent of mid-cap companies (market caps $500 million to $1 billion) and 62 percent of large-cap (market caps over $1 billion) do the same.

-- The survey also revealed a substantial increase in the use of web-conferencing applications by companies for "virtual roadshows" to the investment community.