Appointment of Investor Relations Officers to be mandatory for listed firms

New guidelines: IR Officers to communicate the company’s equity story to investors for the purpose of achieving fair price valuation and increasing shareholder value

Publicly traded companies listed on the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) will soon be required to appoint dedicated Investor Relations Officers (IRO) with responsibility for the accurate, up-to-date and timely dissemination of key information to the investor community.

The move is one of several initiatives unveiled by the Omani bourse in line with its strategy to, among other goals, secure an upgrade to Emerging Market status, as well as to enhance its investment appeal ahead of its planned listing on the MSX within the next five years.

According to MSX Chief Executive Officer Haitham bin Salem al Salmi, the role of the Investor Relations Officer is to communicate the company’s equity story to the investors for the purpose of achieving fair price valuation and increase shareholder value.

“The concept of an Investor Relations Officer is really important because it can link the investors directly with the top management of the company. Investors have the right to get information on time; they are entitled to get any information that can affect the fair price valuation of the company”, Al Salmi said.

“Each company has to assign an officer who has to answer investors’ queries, and they are also responsible for any disclosures that are required to be made. The IROs need to make sure that all the information they disclose to any investor is available to all the investors at the same time.”

Addressing an online forum recently, Al Salmi said the MSX is currently in discussion with the market regulator, the Capital Market Authority (CMA), for the introduction of regulations to make appointments of Investor Relations Officers mandatory for publicly listed companies.

To this end, “soft regulations” have already been issued by the bourse to prep listed companies for this new requirement. Under these guidelines, publicly traded businesses are required to nominate IR Officers, and also include their contact particulars on the website of the company, as well as on the MSX portal.

Further, to help in the smooth and effective rollout of the initiative in the Sultanate of Oman, MSX recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Middle East Investor Relations Association (MEIRA). Additionally, the Oman IR Chapter of the Association has been set up, he added.