NASDAQ OMX Armenia Conducts Investor Relations Seminar and Corporate Governance Workshop

Thursday, 25 June 2009

YEREVAN, June 22, 2009 – The Investor Relations and Corporate Governance seminars were organized in Yerevan jointly by NASDAQ OMX Armenia and the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS), a program run by USAID and the East-West Management Institute. As one of its primary objectives, the PFS Program assists countries in Central and Eastern Europe to accelerate financial sector development and reform based on best practices as well as international standards, promoting integration into the European and international economic systems.
The Investor Relations (IR) seminar held on June 17 gathered nearly 60 representatives of all capital market stakeholder groups, including issuers listed and admitted to trading on NASDAQ OMX Armenia, stock exchange member banks and investment companies, business journalists, as well as the Central Bank of Armenia. Speakers, both local and invited from the United States, Poland, and Estonia, covered a variety of topics such as importance of IR in modern corporate environment; IR development trends in Europe in the past two decades; information disclosure requirements that exist in European countries and Armenia; channels and tools used for communicating with investors; Baltic market experience in promoting the development of the companies’ IR function and rewarding IR outperformers. A survey of websites of Armenian companies listed or admitted to trading on NASDAQ OMX Armenia was also presented, focusing on how their online IR practices compare to those of peers in various European and CIS countries. It was concluded that, even though investor relations is a relatively new area of activities in Armenia, it is not neglected by Armenian companies and will continue to receive increasing attention from businesses that want to raise capital in the market.
The Corporate Governance workshop was held on June 19, 2009 and was attended by over 20 participants, primarily financial journalists. During the workshop a corporate governance case study was presented, which helped emphasize the importance of transparency and good governance practices in companies. Evidence from multiple sources was used to demonstrate that investors worldwide are prepared to pay a premium for the securities of companies that are governed in an accountable and transparent manner. The second presentation, specially designed for journalists, provided an overview of principles and best practices to follow when reporting on topics related to corporate governance. The role of media in making the general public aware of potential issues related to governance practices in companies, as well as in providing insightful and impartial coverage of all related topics was stressed.
Having received very positive feedback regarding both events, NASDAQ OMX Armenia foresees that they will promote good governance practices and strengthen investor rights protection in Armenia, thus assisting the Armenian companies in attracting more capital for their development needs.
Materials of the both events in Armenian and English can be obtained by visiting NASDAQ OMX Armenia official website www.nasdaqomx.am.

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