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Market Turnaround

MCI’s market turnaround deploys a proven set of processes to return your company to a positive market trajectory. MCI resets market expectations, rebuilds credibility, and enhances your company’s engagement with investors.

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The Challenge

The performance of a company’s share price not only dictates its ability to execute the long-term strategy, it determines how vulnerable management is to shareholder activism and predatory bids. Even companies with competent management teams, reasonable operational performance, and recent strategic wins can experience a share price that stubbornly marches down and to the right.

The longer this under performance goes on for, the more dangerous it becomes for management, shareholders, and the long-term prospects of the company. Perhaps the company has a dedicated investor relations function that’s just missing the mark with the capital markets, or maybe investor relations is being run off the corner of the CFO’s desk. Either way, something is clearly wrong. Investors and board members are increasingly agitated. The market simply doesn’t get what the company is doing and thinks the company is drifting strategically. Time is running out.

Company’s that fail to deliver investment grade communications and engagement always end up here. They inevitably find themselves in the penalty box with the markets. And management often assumes there is no way out… but there is.

Our Solution

A complete capital markets turnaround

The good news is that MCI knows how to get companies out of the penalty box and the strategic dead end they are in. MCI’s proven market turnaround process has successfully protected a number of management teams from this scenario.

MCI’s hands-on approach to rebuilding management and company credibility, and resetting market performance combines the following:

  • Surfacing Investor Perceptions: We go into the buy side and sell side of the market to get feedback and identify the root cause of what is dragging your company’s valuation down. We identify the misunderstandings and misperceptions that need to be bridged.
  • Message Re-Development: Armed with direct market feedback we re-articulate your investment thesis, distilling it to its most simple and compelling form across all of your company’s investment communications.
  • Value Creation Strategy: The most important tool in defending management teams from shareholder activism and predatory bids is the credible articulation of a long-term value-creation strategy. MCI will work with management and the board to package and launch your company’s long-term value creation plan.
  • Investor Targeting & Engagement: Leveraging deep market intelligence, we identify and connect you with high-conviction investors aligned with your story.
  • Quarterly and Transactional Communications: From earnings calls to M&A announcements, we ensure all financial communications reinforce confidence and transparency.
  • Capital Markets Advisory: We prepare your executive team for roadshows, investor days, and analyst interactions to maximize every opportunity to build trust and attract capital.
  • IR Communication Infrastructure & Reporting: We help you implement best practices in IR communication systems, investor communications, disclosure protocols, presentation materials, IR websites, and more.

Our proven process combines capital markets expertise, compelling storytelling, and strategic alignment with your long-term business goals. The result is stronger investor relationships, reduced valuation disconnect, and greater access to capital.

In our experience, solid execution by management, combined with our ongoing investor relations solution, can initiate dramatic valuation turnarounds. Parkland (TSX:PKI – 2010 to 2014) and Stantec (NYSE/TSX:STN 2019 to 2022) delivered valuation improvements of 197% and 155% respectively during our mandates.

Anatomy of a Market Turnaround

The capital market turnaround requires effective resourcing to go above and beyond ongoing investor relations. Award winning investor relations has been shown to drive a 34% valuation premium relative to peer companies. We leverage foundational investor relations systems and the fair valuation framework to layer in the operational components of a premium valuation for your company.

Foundational Systems

We ensure your company’s investor communication and relationship management systems are delivering essential information to investors in a predictable and dependable manner.

Messaging Strategy

Armed with feedback from the investment community we develop and deploy a consistent messaging strategy to address misperceptions and enhance understanding.

Investment Grade Communications

We develop compelling investment grade marketing collateral and execute top-notch investor events so that your company stands above the crowd in the capital markets.

Value Creation Strategy

We work with management and the board to package and launch a 3-5 year value creation plan – Say what you’re going to do, and then do what you said you would do.

MCI Provides Multiple Approaches to Deliver Your

Capital Markets Turnaround

Comprehensive

This is a full turn-key solution to address all of your company’s turnaround requirements and provide effective ongoing management of your capital markets presence.

The Interim IRO

We parachute in to manage your capital market turnaround and put the systems and processes in place to help your team manage your capital markets presence on an ongoing basis.

IR Assistance

We partner with your existing investor relations resources to provide increased bench strength, expertise, and capacity to turnaround your capital markets performance.

Our Capabilities
MCI Capabilities

Activist Resolution

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Corporate Communications

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Capital Markets
Strategy

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Crisis
Communications

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Debt and Equity
Offerings

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Financial
Reporting

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Design &
Branding

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Digital
Technologies

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ESG &
Sustainability

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Investor Perception
Studies

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Initial Public
Offerings

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Ongoing Investor
Relations

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Investment
Grade Events

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Market
Coaching

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Market
Connect

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Market
Turnaround

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Transaction
Communications

Learn more about the capital markets

Access Our Insights

Broker-Dealer Relationships – Building a Marriage of Equals

 Broker-Dealer Relationships – Building a Marriage of Equals 1024 576 MCI Capital Markets

Choosing the right broker-dealers to work with is nearly as important as choosing who to marry. The right partner will support you – the wrong partner will leave you on the sidelines. Companies must partner with firms whose capabilities, sector focus, and size align with the company’s own. In short, companies should seek a marriage of equals when it comes to the sell side.

Share buybacks, NCIBs, and repurchases can hurt your company's share performance

The Hidden Dangers of Share Buybacks and NCIBs

 The Hidden Dangers of Share Buybacks and NCIBs 1024 576 MCI Capital Markets

Share buybacks often look like a winning strategy. They boost EPS, return cash, and signal confidence. But for companies with small floats or weak liquidity, buybacks can seriously undermine value. This post explains why, and offers a checklist for boards to consider before repurchasing shares.

Artificial Intelligence Can Hurt IR

Artificial Intelligence: How It Can Help and Hurt Investor Engagement

 Artificial Intelligence: How It Can Help and Hurt Investor Engagement 1024 576 MCI Capital Markets

AI tools like chatbots and outreach agents promise efficiency for IR teams. But if they reduce human contact, they can hurt your investor conversion funnel. This post shows when AI helps — and when it harms investor engagement — and offers practical guardrails for IR professionals.

Renegade Board

Renegade Boards: When Directors Go Rogue

 Renegade Boards: When Directors Go Rogue 1024 576 MCI Capital Markets

Renegade boards can disrupt strategy, destroy value, and blindside shareholders. This post explains why boards go rogue, highlights real cases like Gildan and Nestlé, and shows how management can protect the company through stronger investor relationships, clearer communication, and smarter governance practices.

Hostile Market Actors

Hostile Market Actors: Putting Management in the Crosshairs

 Hostile Market Actors: Putting Management in the Crosshairs 1024 576 MCI Capital Markets

Public companies that have been trading at a durable discount for a protracted period face serious risks from hostile market actors. Activist investors, opportunistic takeover bids, and renegade boards can challenge management, disrupt strategy, or force governance upheaval.

Reach New Institutional Investors

Reach New Institutional Investors

 Reach New Institutional Investors 1024 576 MCI Capital Markets

Public companies face real challenges in reaching new institutional investors. Broker led corporate access prioritizes commission payers, which may not be the investors best suited for the company. To break through, companies must take control of institutional investor targeting.

The Three Pillars of Quantitative Investor Targeting

Quantitative Investor Targeting Relies on Three Pillars

 Quantitative Investor Targeting Relies on Three Pillars 1024 576 MCI Capital Markets

Accurate quantitative investor targeting depends on three pillars: clean and current ownership data, comprehensive fundamental financial data, and a rigorously back-tested targeting model. When any one of these elements is weak, targeting accuracy drops, and IR teams risk wasting time on irrelevant outreach.

The importance of an Investor Relationship Management Systems

No Investor Relationship Management System = No IR Program

 No Investor Relationship Management System = No IR Program 1024 576 MCI Capital Markets

In today’s capital markets no capability is more fundamental to a modern investor relations (IR) function than an effective Investor Relationship Management (IRM) system. The IRM is not “nice to have.” It should be at the operational core of every IR program.

apply an investor conversion funnel to turn anonymous analysts, media and non-investors into engaged participants

Deploying a Sound Investor Conversion Funnel

 Deploying a Sound Investor Conversion Funnel 1024 576 MCI Capital Markets

A functional investor conversion funnel is required for a fully integrated strategic investor relations program. Yet so many companies fail to capture and curate their key relationships in the capital markets to the detriment of shareholder value.

Need Ongoing Investor Relations?

The capital markets can be bewildering, even to the most experienced management teams. We believe that most executives are committed to maximizing shareholder value, but poorly executed investor relations can lead to valuation loss, reputational damage, employee attrition, deal failure, and even shareholder revolt.

MCI has helped its clients unlock billions of dollars in market value through a proven system that delivers sound messaging, branding, and engagement strategies. Over the past two decades our team has been involved in $5.7 billion in corporate actions that include $3.1 billion in acquisitions and $2.6 billion in financings-all successful.

MCI can help you resolve unfair valuation discounts and get the most out of your company’s public listing. Contact us today to engage our data driven, results focused process to unleash real progress.