Company: IGATE Corporation
Company Description: IGATE is a global leader in providing integrated technology and operations- based solutions, headquartered in Bridgewater, NJ. With revenues over $ 1.2 billion, and an employee base of over 33,000, IGATE offers productized applications and services.IGATE was ranked 51 in Fortune's list of 100 Fastest-Growing Companies in the U.S. – the only IT services company to be featured on the list.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign/Program of the Year - Investor Relations

Nomination Title: IGATE Corporation's 2014 Investor Relations Program

Tell the story about this nominated campaign since January 1, 2014 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms.

Title: Instilling Confidence in New Strategies and Vision

Situation Analysis/ Campaign Conception:

2014 was a critical year for IGATE. Post the unfortunate exit of its former CEO in May 2013, the Company’s market cap touched a low of $0.8 billion, and it was valued at a trailing twelve month P/E multiple of 8.6x on non GAAP EPS. In September 2013, IGATE hired an established industry veteran Ashok Vemuri to take over the reign. Ashok began implementing a new strategy that involved reorganizing the entire company into a vertical structure, and making calculated investments in key areas such as solutions, sales and go-to-market, and infrastructure. The Company also rebranded its identity with a new logo, and renewed vision, mission and value statements.

While employees and clients had confidence in Ashok’s vision, these were significant changes for shareholders and analysts to digest. Management recognized that it was imperative for the IR team to build investor trust in Ashok, confidence in the new strategy, and to reaffirm the company’s long-term opportunities despite short-term margin pressures.

As a result, IGATE’s 2014 Investor Relation Program centered on:

• Effectively communicating IGATE’s new direction, value proposition, and opportunities,
• Maintaining relationships with existing shareholders and attracting new holders, and
• Gaining additional sell-side coverage to help tell the story.

Strategy:

Increasing Resources and Determining Market Perception:

As the first step, the company added two employees to the department to assist the Head of IR, in implementing the campaign. The company also tasked its external IR consultants (ICR) to conduct a perception study to analyze how the changes were being perceived by investors and analysts.

Increased and Effective Communications:

The second element of the campaign was to improve and increase the frequency of the overall communications to bring in transparency and inspire the confidence. To achieve this, the team facilitated more investor and analyst interactions with management. The team also organized analyst and investor visits to the campuses in Bangalore and Pune. This increased access provided greater insight to the company’s strategy and direction.

On its earnings call in January 2014, management spent a significant amount of time, sharing the company’s new strategy, vision, and long-term opportunities. The team also provided increased detail on their shorter term financial expectations and made significant efforts to address all the street’s questions and concerns. The team introduced a new format for the quarterly fact sheet which replaced the old tabular format and provided a more detailed outlook to the Company’s results.

The IR team organized an Analyst Day in May 2014 in New York, attended by over 100 participants including trade and financial analysts, investors, and key clients like UBS, Orange and Rio Tinto. The Company’s business heads presented at the event for the first time and also made themselves available to analysts throughout the year. This increased access was appreciated by many.

Sell-Side Outreach:

As part of their effort to increase communication, the team put together an initiative to actively reach out to sell-side analysts who didn’t cover the stock with the goal of gaining additional coverage and more analysts communicating the story to the street.

Accomplishments:

Gained four new covering analysts in 2014, including analysts from William Blair, Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey, and bulge bracket banks – Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan.

The Company now has a market cap of approximately $3.5 billion and a non GAAP trailing twelve months P/E multiple of 21.8x, reflecting the greater confidence demonstrated by the Street on IGATE’s long term strategy.

Facilitated over 322 investor and analyst interactions (in 251 working days) in 2014. IGATE participated in 16 non-deal roadshows in 2014 compared to four in 2013, which is the highest-ever in the history of the Company.

Strengthened the shareholder base by increasing the percentage of shares owned by long-term GARP and Aggressive Growth investors in 2014, and decreased ownership by Hedge Funds.

Retained 65% of 12.31.13 Top 20 holders as 12.31.14 Top 20 Holders.

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) of the chief features and results of this nominated PR program since the beginning of 2014 (up to 150 words).

2014 Accomplishments:

• Facilitated over 322 investor and analyst interactions.
• Participated in 16 non-deal road shows compared to four in 2013.
• On its January earnings call, dedicated a significant amount of time sharing the new strategy, and vision, and provided increased detail on shorter-term financial expectations.
• Introduced a new format for the quarterly fact sheet to provide a more detailed look into the Company’s results.
• Organized an Analyst Day, attended by over 100 participants including analysts, investors, and key clients like UBS, Orange and Rio Tinto. Business heads presented and were also available to analysts throughout the year.
• Gained four new analysts from William Blair, Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan.
• Increased IGATE’s market cap to approximately $3.5 billion.
• Strengthened the shareholder base by increasing the percentage of shares owned by GARP and Growth investors in 2014.
• Retained 65% of 12.31.13 Top 20 holders as 12.31.14 Top