Investor relations (IR)

Investor relations sits at the intersection of communications, finance, and law. The IR function is responsible for the ongoing relationship between the listed entity and its investors — institutional and retail — and the materials that mediate that relationship: results announcements, decks, shareholder letters, AGM communications, capital-raise documents, and continuous-disclosure announcements.

Strong IR is associated with lower cost of capital, lower share-price volatility, higher analyst coverage quality, and stronger register retention through cycles. The buy-side reads IR quality as a signal about management discipline more broadly.

For ASX-listed entities, the IR function is also a compliance role — Listing Rule 3.1, the Corporations Act, ASIC market-integrity rules, and ASX Guidance Notes all anchor the work.

IR can be run in-house (an internal IRO and team), outsourced (a fractional or embedded IR consultancy such as Orca), or hybrid. For most ASX-listed companies under A$500m market cap, the embedded-consultancy model gives access to senior IR without the cost of a full-time team.