Investor relations witness transition in last decade; digitalization, AI to be part of IR day-to-day activities: Haitham Al-Shathri

Haitham Al-Shathri, Head of Corporate Investor Relations, Dr.Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical services Group

Haitham Al-Shathri, Head of Corporate Investor Relations, Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Group (HMG) said today, Oct. 25, that investor relations (IR) have witnessed a transition from one way to another in the last ten years on all levels, including the investment community and the c-suite.

For example, in the last five years, companies started to collect all information manually to run effective investor relations, Al-Shathri said when speaking at The Future of IR: Survey Findings at MEIRA Conference 2021.

However, with the integration of technology and digitalization, things have become better way today.

Over the next coming five or ten years, the integration of technology, digitalization along with having more data and artificial intelligence (AI) will be an input of investor relations day-to-day activities, Al-Shathri expected.

“So, providing kind of clever, smart and quick tools to the investor relations will definitely support the continuous developing and even implementing kind of the best practice of investor relations, and of satisfaction, when it comes to engage or interact with the investment community, and even internally with the management or executive of the organization,” Al-Shathri affirmed.

In the last two years, since the Saudi Exchange has been exposed to international investors, requests have been significantly increased (for more information about companies and market activity) not only from the international investors, but even around the world.

Moreover, the implementation and the adoption of ESG and sustainability has been taken from the higher level of the entire country. It has been adopted from a government perspective not only for the listed companies.

For example, Saudi Arabia celebrated the launch of the Saudi Green Initiative two days ago, targeting to have zero carbon emissions by 2060.

Such initiatives push more listed companies to adopt and follow most of these practices with respect to investor relations, sustainability and ESG, Al-Shathri concluded, expecting high demand for implementing those aspects going forward.

Write to Nashwa Farouk: nashwa.farouk@argaam.com