Bahrain Bourse, in co-operation with J P Morgan, held a three-part training course on investor relations (IR) which was attended by representatives from several listed companies.

This course has been organised to go in line with the bourse's responsibility towards supporting the efforts of developing investor relations in Bahrain, and contribute to the development of various areas in the capital markets sector in the country.

The training course comes as part of an agreement between the two signed last May to enhance IR expertise in Bahrain through a certified training program that is conducted annually, and will be offered to companies listed on Bahrain Bourse to transfer IR best practice.

The first part of the course, which was presented by a group of specialists from various leading financial institutions, discussed several topics concerning investor relations, such as the importance of it in listed companies, the structure of IR in a company's organisational chart, the role, strategy, objectives, and its major responsibilities as well as the best IR practices.

The course also shed light on the role of IR serving as an effective communication channel between the company and other related parties such as shareholders, investors, media, and regulatory authorities to ensure the flow of accurate information in a way that will contribute to providing those parties with information that will enable them to take sound decisions concerning the company.

The course provided over three days a unique opportunity for listed companies to understand the principles of investor relations and develop their IR practices by interacting with each other and the IR specialists. - TradeArabia News Service