The Informational Impact of Management Presentations at Public Meetings: An Event Study on the Apimec Meetings

Abstract

This study measured the impact on the company’s stock price caused by management presentations at public meetings organized by the Association of Investment Analysts and Professionals of the Capital Markets - Apimec. Using the methodology of event study, we analyzed the abnormal stocks' return of 160 companies, which conducted 739 meetings between 2005 and 2009. The results suggest that, on average, the information generated at these events led to small abnormal returns during the period of analysis. This finding could be due to both the low impact of these informational events and the possible difficulty of meeting participants to perceive this information as relevant. The main contribution of this research is to demonstrate that the Apimec meetings are events where the company's relations with investors and analysts can be initiated and strengthened, but where no new information is presented. This finding demonstrates that companies are conducting meetings in line with the recommendations of Brazilian regulatory agencies, which indicate that during public meetings should be commented only information previously disclosed. Other means of disseminating information, such as material facts, press releases, conference calls, among others, can be so wide and efficient in distributing information simultaneously to market players, that all is left for meetings is really the role of making possible greater knowledge and understanding of the company by the market and of the market by the company. This process of building mutual understanding can bring value in the relationships of companies with investors in the long term, but not lead, on average, to short-term informational impacts.