Our Services

To maintain a competitive position against the thousands of companies trading in the equity markets, it is imperative that a company develops a proactive, strategic, and consistent IR program. Ongoing communications with existing and potential shareholders, consistent messaging, and maintaining a public presence will enable Wall Street to value a company based on its unique fundamentals, as opposed to the general assumptions related to its peers. By establishing and maintaining an open dialogue with the Street, MKR obtains very candid insight into perceptions of a company, enabling us to work closely with senior executives on delivering the right messages to the right audience. 

To this end, MKR provides the following IR services and counsel:

• Strategic Messaging and Material Development
  Perhaps the biggest determinant in Wall Street's perception of a company is its success in communicating effective and accurate messages. MKR IR works with company executives and/or its IR personnel to understand the messages currently being conveyed to investors or, in the case of a pre-IPO company, messages being considered for future communications. This is followed by candid interviews with investors either familiar with the story or familiar with the industry to understand how the company is currently being viewed by the Street and the level of understanding, awareness or desirability of the company's messages as understood by management. Once this process has been completed, MKR IR will cultivate new or refined messages that reflect the recently gathered information. These polished messages will then be integrated into various documents and corporate collateral, including the website, fact sheets, financial press releases, investor presentations, and Annual Reports, among others. The message refinement process is an ongoing one to be undertaken regularly as companies are dynamic and evolving. A major priority for MKR is to maintain messages that continuously underscore its client's attractiveness as an investment opportunity and distinguish it from its investment peers.

• Earnings
  The quarterly earnings report is one of the most visible times for company management each quarter. MKR offers a complete package for earnings announcements, which, depending on company-specific needs, services include:

1. Pre-Earnings Analysis
   This includes interviews with the company's sell-side analysts and institutional shareholders to identify potential areas of interest, concern, and other hot buttons that need to be covered on the conference call. This document will be accompanied by a complete list of current First Call estimates, which will be useful in understanding the likely impact of the quarterly results and in determining any guidance to be provided by management.
2. Earnings Script and Press Release
   Depending on your needs, we will draft, edit and/or review your earnings script and press release. Our input will be based on our ongoing communications with analysts and investors familiar with your story as well as our own research on trends within your industry.
3. Call Preparation
   We will conduct a full run-through of the conference call, including a mock Q&A session that includes questions we believe may be asked during the call. After this run-through, we will provide our own candid feedback on presentation and content and monitor the consistency of messages conveyed throughout the script.
4. Tactical Support
   MKR IR will set up the entire process start to finish, depending on your needs. This includes setting up the conference call itself, sending out an announcement of the call, distributing the release over the newswire along with a reminder announcement of the call, working with your website managers to post the final release and finally calling key investors and analysts prior to the call to ensure they have received the dial-in information. Of course, we will read the safe-harbor at the onset of the call as well.
5. Post-Call Perception Analysis and Review
   Following the conference call we will provide our own feedback based on our experience with other companies as well as our understanding of the goals of the call as seen by investors and management. In addition, we will conduct post-call interviews with select investors and analysts to understand the effectiveness of the call as well as identify both the positive and negative reactions to the information that was conveyed. This will be presented to management along with specific recommendations for future communications based on this candid feedback.

• Targeting
  A successful IR program requires proactive and ongoing outreach to existing and potential investors. In addition, identifying new sell-side analysts for future coverage is essential. To ensure the best possible use of management's valuable time, MKR IR offers the following services:
  

1. Institutional Investor Targeting Analysis
   MKR's in-depth targeting analysis begins with an evaluation of the company's specific investment characteristics and culminates with a comprehensive, easy to use document that identifies potential investor targets across the U.S., including names and contact information, assets under management, investment style, current holdings and a ranking on its likelihood to be buyers of the stock. By including multiple characteristics of a company in the analysis and going beyond simple peer analysis, the end result is a useful list of investors that are likely candidates to take a position in the stock, sorted by geography for ease in setting up a roadshow or in complementing management's existing travel schedule with add-on meetings.
2. Sell-Side Targeting Analysis
   We will identify the research analysts most likely to initiate coverage and make the initial introduction on behalf of our client. We will work to develop and maintain relationships until the analyst is ready to meet with management. This document tends to be updated fairly frequently, with analysts constantly shuffling from firm to firm within the banking community.

• Training
  As one of the most influential methods of communication available to management, effective presentation skills are essential in attracting investors to the story. Content, structure and timing of the presentation will go a long way in making the most of these opportunities. We will work closely with management in fine-tuning all aspects of the financial presentation; from identifying key messages reinforcing investment appeals to strengthening management's delivery style to be concise, effective and importantly, credible during both the presentation and during the Q&A session. In addition, we will train management and other executives on the various SEC regulations and how they affect communications with investors and analysts.

• Corporate Governance
  In the wake of Sarbanes-Oxley and the more rigorous SEC regulations, the importance of Corporate Governance has been heightened in recent years. Companies are confronting a new reality with largely untested consequences of non-compliance. MKR IR works in conjunction with your legal team to ensure that all requirements are being met. Our goal is to provide counsel on emerging governance principles and stay apprised of financial disclosure policies to provide communications support to executives and board members facing these new responsibilities. If and when new regulations are issued and/or revised, we will provide summaries of the new requirements and how they affect your company.

• Perception Study
  An accurate and complete understanding of the financial community's understanding of a company is an effective platform on which to build a comprehensive investor relations plan or to evaluate the success of a company's current communications efforts. It can also be a tool to re-formulate an IR plan or develop specific communications objectives to meet future goals. MKR's perception studies focus on gathering pertinent information to add real value for our clients. Our perception studies combine strategic, qualitative, and quantitative approaches, not strictly quantitative by-the-numbers reports, which tend to provide far less useful information. We seek to involve top management and, if appropriate, the board of directors to render a product that delivers meaningful insights for all senior management. Perception studies can be built around a wide variety of issues such as: ongoing communications, earnings events, financial performance, sector or industry issues, corporate transactions, management succession, and business strategy.
  
  After the interview questions and process have been well defined, we engage in discussions including investors, sell-side analysts, and financial media to ensure a well-rounded commentary. We then review findings, prepare summaries, develop recommendations and present an action plan to address issues raised in the study. The complete findings are then captured and conveyed in both report and presentation format.
  
  Six months following the completion of the perception study, MKR conducts a follow-up study in order to determine the effectiveness of the initial perception study and the actions taken as a result.

• Road Show, Meeting and Event Services
  Maintaining contact via face-to-face meetings and through conference calls is mandatory for any successful IR program. Whether supplemental meetings for a bank-sponsored roadshow are needed or add-on meetings with investors in conjunction with management's existing schedule, MKR will provide its full support. As often the first point of contact for new investors, we will ensure that management is introduced in the timeliest fashion. We will also provide follow-up calls with investors after each meeting to see if any additional information is needed or, in some cases, to address any concerns that may have arisen due to the meeting. In addition, MKR IR is experienced in event planning and will coordinate all aspects of an Analyst Day, Annual Meeting, or any other corporate-sponsored event.

• Retail Programs
  The amount of time a company devotes to its retail shareholder base depends on many factors. Whatever the requirements, we can tailor a retail program to suit particular goals and objectives. Retail outreach typically includes the following:

1. Targeting
   Targeted mailing of company Fact Sheet to brokers managing over $1 million in assets. We will follow up with phone calls to answer any questions or provide additional information as needed.
2. Retail-Specific Material Development
   Development of retail-specific company presentation to be used at brokerage houses. Management's existing schedule determines meetings/presentations unless time permits otherwise.
3. Retail Presentations
   Attendance at one or more retail-oriented conferences such as NAIC (National Association of Investment Clubs) and other conferences that cater to individual investors.

• Ongoing Investor Relations Support and Counsel
  Depending on a company's requirements, MKR IR will serve as the sole IR contact to the investment community, providing updates and answering questions and general information to incoming inquiries from investors. Typically, our names and contact information are provided on press releases and websites, and we are contacted directly by investors. Our job is to determine when an investor is suitably up to speed on the story to talk directly with management to minimize management's time in responding to general inquiries. In addition, our fees include any IR-related issues that may come up for a company. We encourage management to contact us with any and all questions or requests for further IR support.