Requesting annual reports.

[forest]

Yesterday I decided to request a few annual reports of companies I do not have a holding in.

I phoned Link for the companies were Link is the transfer agent, a friendly voice from Link answers the phone and tells me the requested annual reports will be send in the mail.

It use to go nearly as smoothly in the past when requesting annual reports from Computer Share.

However yesterday I spend close to an hour to request some annual reports from Computer Share without a positive result. CS let people wait what I think is an unreasonable time on the phone and then are incapable of connecting you to the right person to handle a simple request.

So my thinking then was that I should be able to order annual reports on line. I looked on their website however I did not manage to see such an feature. OK then, I send e-mail, got an reply that tells me that CS might take 5 days to reply to e-mails.

I find this lack of telephone service and 5 day e-mail service unacceptable and thinking of encouraging companies to move to Link.

How do others get their annual reports from CS? Am I missing something?

PS, I know I can get the annual reports on line and I do on many occasions, but I find a hard copy very useful if I want to analyze a company more deeply.

[GR8DAY]

.......go on-line then just print out the important bits??

[LAC]

Usually visit the company site and fluff around till I find them. Only reason I do this is same as above, it takes too long awaiting them from CS (never tried requesting from Link as i just assumed same process)
I have always found a way of getting them but obviously take me some google search time.
Would be good to have a dump of all annual reports in one place for say like 10 years of each company on the NZX, shouldn't require too much space unless they pretty pics like TIL:)

[Beagle]

Sorry Forest I have to agree with others above. I like hard copies of annual reports too and you're certainly entitled to them as a shareholder. That said I think if one isn't a shareholder, isn't doing one's research and looking at annual reports online a more reasonable, (so as not to put unnecessary costs onto a company you're not currently invested in, including postage) and certainly faster approach ?

[Hoop]

Most Company reports are on the company's websites usually going back about 10 years..download and save them if you must...why bother though except maybe the oldest ones might get hard to locate after 10years so save them..
Being 65 years old I remember having the spare room with bookshelves everywhere with all sorts of company memorabilia...Thank God for the internet I managed to throw out all that stuff

Logic assumption..I now have a clutter free spare room....nah false logic:(...Mrs Hoop has seen some space need filling..Can't get into the spare room now..

Moral of this story...don't throw away any old hardcopies

[percy]

Yesterday I decided to request a few annual reports of companies I do not have a holding in.

I phoned Link for the companies were Link is the transfer agent, a friendly voice from Link answers the phone and tells me the requested annual reports will be send in the mail.

It use to go nearly as smoothly in the past when requesting annual reports from Computer Share.

However yesterday I spend close to an hour to request some annual reports from Computer Share without a positive result. CS let people wait what I think is an unreasonable time on the phone and then are incapable of connecting you to the right person to handle a simple request.

So my thinking then was that I should be able to order annual reports on line. I looked on their website however I did not manage to see such an feature. OK then, I send e-mail, got an reply that tells me that CS might take 5 days to reply to e-mails.

I find this lack of telephone service and 5 day e-mail service unacceptable and thinking of encouraging companies to move to Link.

How do others get their annual reports from CS? Am I missing something?

PS, I know I can get the annual reports on line and I do on many occasions, but I find a hard copy very useful if I want to analyze a company more deeply.

I ring the company secretary of each company I want a report from.
Usually they tell me I can get it on line.
I then tell them I find it a lot easier going to note 18 in a printed annual report than trying to do it on line.
You should print it off.I don't have a printer.
Get there in the end.
ps.Try phoning JetStar and cancelling your booking.Thought I was doing them a favour.They could resell our tickets.I hung up in the end.
Why do call centres employ people whose 4th language is English beats me?.Surely I am not the only person who calls these centres who is hard of hearing?.

[fungus pudding]

Why do call centres employ people whose 4th language is English beats me?.Surely I am not the only person who calls these centres who is hard of hearing?.

Because our minimum wage is too high to compete.

[Lewylewylewy]

If you own a company, an Indian call centre is a really good way to save costs and at the same time, tell your customers that you hate them.

[Beagle]

Why are people surprised that Jetstar have a third rate call centre where customers struggle to understand the staff ?

[forest]

Ok, ok I am well aware and able to get annual reports on the companies websites. But I am like Percy and find it much easier to analyze a company with a hard copy. Looking at notes as Percy said, highlighting some parts or making calculations on the side.

But my main point is transfer agents as I understand are contracted and are being paid to deal with shareholders request of annual reports. Link carries out this part of the contract efficiently. Computer Share use to provide this service reluctantly but now it is near impossible to get service out of them.

PS, I realise I can contact the companies separately but I should not have to.

[OldGuy]

Forest: I also prefer to read things in hard copy, but electronic reports can also be very handy for performing searches etc.

Maybe download the electronic (PDF) file, print the essentials in hard copy and also exploit the PDF's superior searchability for optimal results! :)

[Beagle]

Share registry services IMO have always been predominantly aimed at maintaining the share register. I remember the old days when you could wander in too Computershare when they were in Newmarket and they'd have a fairly significant number of annual reports available for perusal or uplifting but thanks to the internet and websites times have moved on and I think there's an interesting moral question here.

Is it morally right that a non-shareholder can impose costs on a company, (printing costs and postage aren't free) just because they prefer to read a hard copy when the company has already gone to the trouble of making that same information freely available on their website ? How many times have you received requests by your company to send future reports by electronic means as a cost saving measure so is it right that non-shareholders still have the legal right to impose costs on a company in which they don't own shares ?

In my view if you want to read a hard copy of an annual report and you're not a shareholder, printing one for yourself seems the more fair and reasonable thing to do. If Computershare are making it all but impossible to request printed copies of annual reports maybe its time to ask if the only ones really entitled to same are the shareholders themselves to be sent as one batch to shareholders at reporting time ?

I also prefer to read things in hard copy and feel I have that right in companies in which I am a shareholder. Computershare doing the right thing in the best interests of the company clients they act for, in my opinion. Duty of care to non shareholders in my view simply doesn't exist when the information is freely available on the companies own website. That's how I see it anyway...

[macduffy]

Fair points, Roger.

I read quite a few annual reports, mostly of companies I'm invested in. Shareholders are given the option of receiving hard copies but need to actively request same, in writing. It seems reasonable to me, that if I want one as a non-shareholder I am prepared to read and if necessary, print from the website.

[percy]

The importance of the annual report.
The annual report is the face of any business.It contains where the company came from,where it is today and where it intends to be.
The CEO of any listed company spends a great deal of their time promoting their business,to fund managers,brokers and brokers' clients.
It is in their shareholders best interest, that the CEO does this.It promotes,and informs investors,and potential investors.Their interest in the company will create a greater demand for the company's shares,and more market depth.
So what is the first thing a new/potential shareholder want?
You guessed right.A copy of the company's annual report.A hard copy at that.
So back to call centres.So while the CEO of a company is doing his upmost to promote the company,the company's call centre is telling the company's customers they are hated.!!
Funny old world.

[Beagle]

Agree with you about the importance of annual reports but from there on I disagree. I am certain Percy that you would have noticed that nearly all the companies you invest in have already actively encouraged you, (probably several times already) to receive all future reports by electronic means. There are not insignificant costs per shareholder in printing and sending out thousands of printed copies of annual reports, even higher per copy sent when they have to be sent out on an individual basis to non-shareholders.

The simple reality is we live in a different era now, e.g. I'd get hundreds of e.mails for every written letter, maybe 1,000.

Companies are not telling prospective shareholders they're hated, they're telling them to get with the times and don't waste existing shareholders money, there's quite an important distinction. With companies so actively engaged in encouraging their own shareholders to receive electronic copies of reports I am surprised it would come as a shock that they'd try even harder to stop wastage with members of the public to whom they owe no fiduciary duty of care ?

Computershare have this bang on the money in my opinion. They owe a fiduciary duty of care to their client, the company for whom they provide registry services and that duty of care must be exercised in a cost effective and efficient manner.

[percy]

The one thing in business that never changes is "the customer is right."
In this case if the investor [the customer],wants a printed annual report,then that's what they should get.
As a side bar, I was listening to an interview with Roger Penske.He was talking about Detroit Diesel, and how he changed the business to being customer focussed.
Simple; they put an 0800 number on the side of ever engine they produced.So anything ever went wrong with the engine, they were the first to hear about it, and help the customer get it going again quickly.[and it was at the Detroit Diesel factory,not India].
Under Penske ownership Detroit have increased market share from under 10% to well over 30%.
I think Penske now employs over 40,000 people in his world wide organisation.All customer focussed.
Warren Buffett's Berkshire annual report is not only eagerly awaited by his shareholders,but the whole investing community.He knows the value of the annual report.

[Beagle]

Important distinction. Computershare's customer is the company itself, not individual shareholders and the company itself, if operated efficiently and effectively, should owe a duty of care to existing shareholders to avoid wastage and unnecessary expenditure. In my opinion the company owes no duty of care to potential investors.

Forest have you ever thought that the reason Computershare are making it all but impossible to get a printed report is because the companies themselves are telling Computershare that's the way they want things to be run ?

[percy]

Roger you have missed one of the most important reasons a company produces the best annual report it can.
It is an advertising tool to attract new investors.
CEOs when presenting to potential investors,use it to show case their company.
They spend a great deal of their time "selling" their company to potential investors.
The first thing those potential investors are going to need is a hard copy of the latest annual report.
Giving shareholders the option of online or hardcopy I have no argument with.Where my wife and I both hold shares in the same company, I only ask for the hard copy for myself.

[Baa_Baa]

Such an interesting conversation, I bet the younger folks find it amusing that an investor would not simply subscribe to the emailed reports (save the planet), or a potential investor opt to receive an emailed report and both just print the report at home if they like to read paper. Personally, paper sucks, it's annoying, bulky, slow to arrive, hard to file/archive and I can't copy and paste the important stuff into my analysis.

[forest]

Roger companies spend money on reports and promotion of their business. Dealing with potential investors cost time and money, this is all part of being a public company. Companies spend money on investor relation officers, time is spend by the CEO, CFO and others with investors and potential investors.
If companies had no duty of care to potential investors what value would you give to IPO offerings.
I agree with Percy, as a potential investor we have a right to a hard copy, they are free at present. The day might come that we pay for them but that day has not arrived.
It is also possible the day comes that annual reports will be on line in a more friendly way for printing. This would be a good solution but at present an report can be 100 pages plus.

[OldGuy]

Roger you have missed one of the most important reasons a company produces the best annual report it can.
It is an advertising tool to attract new investors.
CEOs when presenting to potential investors,use it to show case their company.
They spend a great deal of their time "selling" their company to potential investors.
The first thing those potential investors are going to need is a hard copy of the latest annual report.
Giving shareholders the option of online or hardcopy I have no argument with.Where my wife and I both hold shares in the same company, I only ask for the hard copy for myself.

I don't get it. This only makes sense for an IPO, but they already have a specific prospectus...

[percy]

I don't get it. This only makes sense for an IPO, but they already have a specific prospectus...

Have you never been invited by your broker to come along and meet the CEO of company Y.?
Usually a group of 10 to 25 investors.
The CEO of company Y wants to make a good impression.Talks about his company,and where they are going,and proudly leaves each investor with a copy of company Y's latest annual report.

[winner69]

Forest: I also prefer to read things in hard copy, but electronic reports can also be very handy for performing searches etc.

Maybe download the electronic (PDF) file, print the essentials in hard copy and also exploit the PDF's superior searchability for optimal results! :)

Searchability is brilliant

Quickest way to find key metrics like how many 'well positioned' and variants are mentioned

Always a good idea to copy the Chairmans and CEO report into a buzz word analyser to see how much nonsense is said. Amazing how often you will find repurposing, solution, robust, niche, best of breed, mission-critical, next-generation, web-enabled, leading, value-added, leverage, seamless, awesome, super excited etc etc. all hollow meaningless stuff

Haven't found a Maori buzz wordy analyser yet though

[winner69]

One investment manager i know told me he just keeps the financials section of reports - the rest goes into the garbage bin

[Beagle]

I don't get it. This only makes sense for an IPO, but they already have a specific prospectus...

Agree. IPO documents are for raising money from the public and potential investors have every right to whatever form of documentation they like as that's the key point when the company sells itself to the public.
Annual reports are for shareholders and my view as expressed earlier is unchanged. End of debate as far as I am concerned.

[Snoopy]

PS, I know I can get the annual reports on line and I do on many occasions, but I find a hard copy very useful if I want to analyze a company more deeply.


There are a couple of options if you live in Canterbury.

The public library in Christchurch, pre-earthquakes, had quite a good reference business section where you could peruse the last ten years of hard copy annual reports. I would hesitate to say all companies had their reports there. But most did seem to be covered. The collection is still in the system, but it is in storage. So you have to ask for it. I went to the Library on Manchester Street in 2015 and did this for Skellerup, when I was researching that company. Ten tears of reports was too many to digest in one session. Luckily there is a 'storage section' where you can keep items retrieved on site while you are still looking sat them. What with everything going on at the time, I took a month to digest what I wanted. But this was still OK. Once you are finished with your research, you put the reports back on a separate shelf where they will be returned to the archives.

Lincoln University has a good business section too, not restricted to just agricultural stuff. I am not a student or staff member. But I am a taxpayer, so I marched into an open day they had in 2015 and had a look. The main library block had quite an extensive collection of NZ annual reports. Again you can't take them out. But being out of term time, there were plenty of spare desks. So I was able to grab a box and have a look through.

Not much help if you don't live in Canterbury. But maybe helpful for some?

SNOOPY

[OldGuy]

Agree. IPO documents are for raising money from the public and potential investors have every right to whatever form of documentation they like as that's the key point when the company sells itself to the public.
Annual reports are for shareholders and my view as expressed earlier is unchanged. End of debate as far as I am concerned.

After this and learning recently that some investors don't properly understand opportunity cost, I feel like some of us must be living in a parallel dimension....