FINANCIAL PR, IR THRIVED IN 2011
Financial PR and IR practices of firms thrived in 2011 with the five biggest practices reporting gains in double figures and only one of the top 15 having a negative year.
Financial Rankings on pg. 3 |
Edelman replaced ICR in the Financial No. 1 spot as its financial practice
grew 22.8% to $30,032,105, which
was $81,424 greater than ICR’s
$29,950,681, up 19.8%.
In third place was APCO
Worldwide, +18% to $13,396,690.
Ruder Finn, growing by 90%
to $12,828,018, was in fourth place,
followed by CJP Communication,
+21% to $8,173,359.
MWW Group was in sixth place, reporting $5,967,000 in financial PR/IR, an 11.2 percent gain over 2010.
The big jump in Ruder Finn’s financial PR category is partly due to its decision to include corporate PR in financial since corporate reputation impacts stock value.
Other standout gains in the top 25 were Intermarket, +23% to $4,837,425; Atomic PR, +36% to $3,000,000; Dukas PR, +63% to $2,784,000; Levick Strategic Communications, +147% to $2,497,798; Gregory FCA Communications, +9.5% to $2,300,000, and Rasky Baerlein, +61% to $1,020,500.
Padilla Speer Beardsley reported financial fees of $1,753,724, down 25%.
Social media may be the rage in much of PR but financial PR/IR heads are cautious about its use because all investors must have equal access to “material” information about a company, meaning anything that might affect the price of a stock. Answering an individual investor’s question can touch off a general news release that must reach “disclosure” media.
Edelman, New York, $30,032,10
Rich Myers and Jeff Zilka, general managers of Edelman’s financial practice in New York and Chicago, respectively, said the practice is about evenly divided between work for financial services such as mutual funds, hedge funds, insurance companies and investment banks, and the “capital markets,” meaning investor relations, initial public offerings, and communications for corporate restructurings such as spin-offs.
They said there is a strong trend for very large companies to split into two or more publicly held entities that allow management to focus better on certain areas and thus increase shareholder value.
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