Last week saw the 17th annual Best Practice Awards from the IR Society, held at the most impressive marquee in London town: the Pavilion at the Tower of London. What better way to spend a Tuesday evening than a lavish three-course meal, surrounded by the best in the business and industry-leading IR professionals?
The evening kicked off with an entertaining entrée from Strictly Come Dancing’s recent evictee Reverend Richard Coles, waxing lyrical about his experience growing up as the only gay in the village, progressing into the prolific Bronski Beat idol and eventual priest and household name.
After a delicious meal and wine supplied by Howard’s Folly, we eagerly exchanged business cards for the opportunity to win ten years’ worth of wine. Although that winner was never officially announced, three of our clients had been shortlisted for the serious accolades on the evening: the first was IG Design Group, formerly known as International Greetings, who have scooped up numerous employee engagement awards for their global internal rollout of their recent rebrand. Real estate investment trust, Redefine International (soon to be RDI) were also shortlisted for Best Overall Communication of the Investment Strategy in the FTSE 250 category, but were up against stiff competition in Sophos Group and packaging manufacturer DS Smith, who scooped the prestigious gong.
The big winners on the LB table on the evening were McBride plc, who’ve now scored an enviable hat-trick of awards. At the 2016 IR Society Awards, they won Best Annual Report (Small Cap and AIM), with another win at the IR Magazine Awards in spring this year. This time winning the “Grand Prix” award, (Best Overall Communication of the Investment Proposition), McBride’s success at these ceremonies is testament to their successful implementation, and communication of their three-step “Repair, Prepare, Grow” strategy. The judges commended their clear strategy, excellent investment case and successfully laid out report as cornerstones of their success.
The evening culminated in a night of networking and nibbles, and the photo booth was much enjoyed by all. It was a welcome opportunity to let our hair down (and put our wigs on!) after a year of hard work for our clients and their shareholders.
To see a full list of the winners and nominees on the night, see the IR Society website: irsociety.org.uk