Nearly half FTSE 100 companies and most leading Nasdaq companies
are
failing to respond to email enquiries by investors, according
to research by UK public relations company Rainier PR.
The survey revealed that only 38% of the top 100 Nasdaq and 53%
of FTSE 100 companies responded to staged investor email enquiries
with appropriate answers within a three week period.
The companies were sent a standard email request at the middle
of the UK and US working day using the contact details on the
corporations' websites.
There was a wide range of response times, ranging from under
three minutes to more than two weeks, the survey found. The fastest
FTSE response times were from Smiths, BG Group, and Royal Dutch
Shell, which responded in less than 10 minutes.
"These results must come as a wake up call for top companies,"
said Steve Earl, managing director of Rainier PR. "Email is one of
the foremost research and communication tool for investors, so it
is shocking these companies have apparently disregarded the
questions of a potential investor."
The survey showed that a large proportion of high profile Nasdaq
technology companies were among the worst offenders, including
Sandisk, Research in Motion (RIM), Symantec, Logitech, Garmin,
Dell, Checkpoint, and Google.
Some companies in both Exchanges had not investor email option
at all. These included Glaxosmithkline and Morrison's supermarkets
on the FTSE and Ryanair and Citrix on the Nasdaq.