The Westwicke Blog is designed to deliver information and insights into the ever-changing world of healthcare communications.
No matter how careful you are as a company, you can quickly find yourself in the center of a crisis you didn’t expect. When that crisis disrupts operations or threatens the reputation of the company, you must act swiftly but carefully.
Form 8-K, also known as an 8K, is a form that is filed by public companies to notify their shareholders and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) when an unscheduled material event takes place. In other words, it’s an announcement that a major event or corporate change that may be of interest to investors, has occurred. Form 8K is known as a “current report” and is filed in addition to an annual report on Form 10-K and a quarterly report on Form 10-Q.
There’s a saying in investor relations: “You date your investment bankers, but you marry your research analysts.” Essentially, this means that a sell side analyst who covers your company will remain your partner for the long run. Investment bankers, on the other hand, work with a long list of companies and deal with jam-packed, demanding schedules. They don’t disappear after the initial public offering (IPO), but the time they can devote to your company diminishes.
A well-planned and executed research and development (R&D) day can reinforce a company’s message, heighten a company’s visibility, and allow a management team to highlight their investment thesis. It can be an effective and efficient investor relations tool if done correctly.
Special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) activity has exploded in the past two years, from 59 transactions in 2019, to 248 deals in 2020, to 308 SPACs so far in 2021. However, SPACs are not new. This type of transaction has been around for decades, continually evolving as it rises and falls in popularity.
Going public is a transformational event that gives companies the capital they need to invest in future growth, attract top talent, and raise their profile, while providing liquidity to investors and employees.
Unlike quiet periods following an IPO, which are closely regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), end-of-quarter quiet periods are more loosely defined and not strictly regulated.
Right after you report earnings is the ideal time to get out on the road and tell your story to the Street. Sell-side analysts are incentivized to market with management teams, so they are always willing to sponsor a non-deal road show (NDRS).
In 2018, we wrote a piece on best practices to manage and communicate with the growing retail investor community. While the basic tenants of those recommendations hold today, the retail investor has fundamentally changed over the last couple of years.
One of our clients, a recently public diagnostics company, settled an ongoing royalty dispute with a major pharmaceutical company. The settlement amount was significantly lower than what our client had accrued, resulting in nearly $750 thousand upside to their P&L in the upcoming quarter.
