Case Study
COM DEV International Ltd.
Mandate: full service investor relations program
Date: 2005 to present
Developing successful investor messages
COM DEV is one of Canada’s great technology success stories. For more than three decades the company has been designing payload subsystems for the world’s major satellite contractors. More than 80% of all commercial communications satellites ever launched have had COM DEV equipment onboard. The Company fell out of favour with investors, however, after unsuccessful diversification efforts in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The new management team worked hard to rebuild credibility, but investors seemed unconvinced of the long-term prospects.
Equicom helped COM DEV redefine its investor messaging. The company had refocused on its core space business where its unique engineering capabilities positioned it as a world leader. Investor communications emphasized the competitive advantages that COM DEV had parlayed into significant growth within new verticals of the space market.
Program highlights:
- Long-term strategy more clearly articulated and better understood
- Negative events seen in proper perspective
- Street’s expectations are reasonable
- Fully integrated program that includes production of annual reports, website, investor presentation, fact sheets, etc.
- Company applies investor messaging to other purposes, such as recruitment ads
- Reduced administrative burden for the Company by providing services like news release dissemination, SEDAR filing, database management, webcasting, etc.
- Market capitalization has grown from $140 million to over $350 million