BioFinance 2011 – Canada’s preeminent investor conference for the life sciences industry – will feature 46 presenting companies this year ranging in market capitalizations from less than $20 million to nearly half a billion dollars.

 Calgary-based Oncolytics Biotech Inc. (TSX:ONC, NASDAQ:ONCY) comes to the conference riding the momentum from its Phase 3 clinical trial for its oncology asset REOLYSIN®. Ontario-based YM Biosciences (NYSE Amex: YMI, TSX: YM), also an oncology play, will be talking about its Phase 2 cancer product. Both companies will be presenting in the morning on June 1.

 For investors looking for ideas outside of the oncology space, Spectral Diagnostics Inc. (TSX: SDI) management will share details about its Phase 3 theranostic trial for its product candidate that has the potential to assess and treat patients with septic shock. Management from Theratechnologies Inc. (TSX: TH) will be on hand to talk about the company’s FDA-approved drug to treat excess abdominal fat (lipodystrophy) in HIV-infected patients.

 In addition to the corporate presentations, BioFinance 2011 will feature a series of panels involving many of the industry’s key players from the buy and sell side of Bay Street and Wall Street.

 The `Breakfast with Dealmakers’ panel on June 1 features a number of U.S. institutional investors from funds such as Tavistock Life Sciences, Burrill & Co and Merlin Nexus. At noon, the sell side expresses its view in the aptly named `View from Wall Street’ panel when five veteran U.S. investment bankers will discuss strategies for Canadian issuers to make headway in the U.S. marketplace.

Adam Peeler
Senior Account Executive                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Healthcare & Cleantech Group 

  

 

In a follow-up to last week’s post on how-to “Simplify,” this entry will explore our final strategy for dealing with the changing expectations of the web audience: “Pay Attention.”

PAY ATTENTION

It is critical that you pay attention to what’s being said about your company. Whether or not you decide to participate in the online conversation, it is likely that conversations are still happening about you. There are a number of tools you can use to monitor your website.

For example, Google Analytics is an easy-to-use free service that can tell you an amazing amount about the users visiting your site.  For example, when we were redesigning Yamana Gold’s website, we looked at the Company’s analytics in preparation for the User Profile exercise.  We were surprised to learn that one-third of the Company’s web traffic was coming from Brazil.  A deeper look revealed that a Portuguese job-posting site was directing traffic to Yamana’s careers page, which was entirely in English.  We quickly implemented a page written in Portuguese to service these users.

Other services to check out:

• Google Alerts- free service that will email you once a day with any news or blog articles mentioning your company
• Technorati- the largest blog search engine in the world. Search for your brand on Technorati, and subscribe to RSS alerts that let you know when someone blogs about you.  
• Backtype- monitors blog comments. Backtype lets you find, follow, and share comments from across the web.  
• Social Mention- a social media search engine that searches user-generated content such as blogs, comments, bookmarks, events, news, videos, and microblogging services.
• Radian6.com- provides an ongoing social media monitoring service for a fee

 

A press release is the most common way to disseminate news. For a public company, it’s mandatory if the news being communicated is material to their business.

 A press release is also an opportunity to attract media attention by providing editors and reporters with the information they need to base their decision on whether or not to provide coverage.

Yet, according to Steve Frank, Commodities Editor at Bloomberg, he still sees countless examples each day of poorly written press releases that fail to grab his attention. Frank spoke earlier today at the Bloomberg Editorial Briefing Session. Of greatest importance is to simply write in clear and concise language; avoid buzzwords, jargon and overly technical language that make understanding the real message behind a release difficult.

 Besides that, here are some of Frank’s other do’s and don’ts when it comes to putting out an effective press release.

 Do: 

 Don’t: 

• Put a press release when there is no real news;
• Don’t bury key facts and make the reporter dig for them; keep them as close to the top of the release as possible;
• Don’t write an overly long release; keep it concise;

 

 

In part 4 of our 5 part series, we will explore our fourth strategy for dealing with the changing expectations of the web audience: “Simplify.”

SIMPLIFY

Automation can really make your life easier. For example, most websites we develop are driven by a web-based content management system (CMS), which allows site administrators to login from anywhere through a web browser and update the content on their site in real time.  Site admins can also delegate specific roles to other individuals, for example authors who are empowered to make the changes, add, edit or delete pages, and publishers who have the authority to preview and publish those changes.

Tools like Q4 Web Systems’ CMS solution also allow users to securely schedule updates – so for example, if you know you will be away from a computer, you can schedule a certain page or content item to go live on a Monday morning and disappear on a Tuesday at 5pm. 

Another way of simplifying things for your audiences is to allow users to sign up for automated email alerts, so they receive information directly after it’s published to your website.   Most systems will allow you to import, export and view your subscribers at any time, as well as allow you to manage multiple lists.

Stay tuned for the final entry of our five-part series on dealing with the changing expectations of the web audience.

In a follow-up to last week’s post on “Thinking of the User,” this entry will explore our third of five strategies for dealing with the changing expectations of the web audience: “Give them a Choice.”

GIVE THEM A CHOICE

We know users consume content differently.  To reach the widest audience, we recommend that you give users the option of receiving your content the way they want it, whether that means Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or email.  To understand how your users would like to consume information and the sorts of tools visitors are using, refer to your user profiles.

A good way to satisfy most of the audience is the ‘sharethis’ button – a simple widget that can be dropped onto every page of your site that allows users to share the page via a number of social networks.

You can also partner with a company that can take care of this for you.  For example, Q4 Web Systems’ web tools are configured to disseminate your press releases directly to your twitter account or to your Facebook page.  In just seconds after your release crosses the wire, an automated tool like this can ensure that it’s in front of a much larger potential audience than just being on your website alone.

<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/20766247">‪How Q4 Web Integrates Twitter and Facebook APIs with Corporate Websites‬</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user2048068">Darrell Heaps</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

 

Stay tuned for part 4 of our 5 part series: “Simplify.”

Even with Linkedin’s explosive start out of the trading gate, a continued focus on rising gas prices and drama around the search for a new IMF chief, there was plenty of room for Equicom clients in the news this week.  

Red Crescent Resources announced earlier in the week that South African miner Petmin had agreed to acquire a 10.1% stake in it for $4.64 million. The Canadian exploration company said it’s going to use at least $1.5 million of those funds for exploration and development at its Sivas copper project in Turkey. Both Reuters and Mining Weekly covered the news.  

IC Potash is looking to become the world’s lowest cost producer of premium potash, also known as SOP, or Sulphate of Potash. Unlike regular potash, SOP doesn’t contain chloride, a mineral toxic to many crops. CEO Sidney Himmel was in New York this week to present at the Farms to Market Conference. He took some time away from that to appear on BNN.

Reuters reporter John Tilak spoke with Ym BioScience CEO Nick Glover about early partnership talks to eventually launch the company's cancer therapeutics.

 Several Equicom clients also reported financial results this week.  

Exchange Income reported significantly higher revenue from both its aviation and specialty manufacturing divisions when it released its first quarter under the news IFRS accounting standards. The Globe and Mail took a look at what the analysts had to say about the Winnipeg-based company’s latest round of financials.

Chinese construction company Boyuan’s third quarter results also got some media play. Several successful projects and its expansion into Shandong Province helped boost year over year revenues 32% to US$41 million. The National Post covered the results here.   

High Liner also reported its first quarter results. The seafood company hiked its dividend after first quarter profit rose 23.5% on higher sales.  It reported net income of 63 cents per share, up from 42 cents in the same period last year. Revenue was up 7.3%. CP and Reuters both covered the numbers and CEO Henry Demone appeared on CBC: The Lang & O'Leary Exchange (at 42:50) to talk about them in more depth.

 Crystal Quast
Senior Director, Media Relations

 

THINK OF THE USER  

Who are they? What are they looking for? How can we connect them as fast as possible?

The outcome of this exercise is a matrix that describes each possible type of user. This matrix will drive all of our decisions in terms of planning the site.  

Keep in mind that stakeholders can fit into more than one user category – for example, a user may be a mobile user, but also a retail investor. We try to come up with as many different user groups as possible, and then narrow it down to the largest ones – and focus on meeting their needs.

What information are they looking for?

Here’s an example of the beginning of a user profile – the user groups are listed across the top, and what they’re looking for is listed beneath.

Institutional	Retail	Mobile
High-level	Company overview	Corporate Address
Instant access	Recent share history	IR contact information
Management Bios	RSS/Twitter Feeds	Ticker Symbol

 What can we do to make sure that we get them that information as fast as possible?

Tonbridge Power has designed as a ‘one-stop-shop’ Investor Dashboard page for a fast overview of the company’s IR materials.  Besides the stock quote, the page includes: the last three press releases; the latest investor presentation, financial report and fact sheet; investor contacts; and a form to sign up to receive email alerts from the company. 

 The ‘dashboard’ approach also enables users to bookmark a single page in their browser to come back to see all the vital, most recent and relevant activity from the Company.

The Mobile User

In the case of the mobile user, one effective approach is to make a stripped-down ‘mobile microsite’, which includes only the content relevant to this audience.

Bridgewater Systems’ site is designed to detect when users are accessing their web address from a mobile device and present them with a different version of the site.  The Company prioritizes the content they think the mobile user is seeking on-the-run and should they want more, the user is still able to access the non-mobile site.  This results in a product that’s easy to test, easy to troubleshoot and can easily adapt to the next generation of devices.

Stay tuned for next week’s post on strategy #3: “Giving them a Choice.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While there was plenty of focus on commodities in the news this week, there was still room for several Equicom clients.

 Late last week, diversified healthcare company Centric Health (CHH:TSX) announced it’s buying rehabilitation and physiotherapy services provider Lifemark Health in a cash and stock deal worth about $280 million. The transaction will expand Centric’s footprint in the Canadian healthcare industry.

 Reuters reporter Abhiram Nandakumar spoke with CEO Dan Carriere and published this article. The National Post took a look at what analysts were saying about the deal here. Dan Carrier also spoke with Andy Bell on The Close on BNN.

 Absolute Software (ABT:TSX) reported its third quarter for the 2011 fiscal year after the closing bell on Monday. With trailing 12-month sales contracts ringing in at $76.4 million, or 8.4% higher than in Q2, it was the highest quarterly growth rate in the last eight quarters for the Vancouver-based laptop security firm. Revenue of $18 million also helped make for its third consecutive record breaking quarter. National Post took a look at what one analyst said about Absolute’s financial results, while CEO John Livingston appeared on BNN to talk about growth in the smartphone category going forward.

 Larry Sarbit of I.A. Clarington’s Sarbit U.S. Equity Fund also appeared on BNN to talk about why he’s so keen on U.S. equities right now. Sarbit, who spoke to a crowd of financial advisors in downtown Toronto, was also profiled by Investment Executive reporter Megan Harman in this article.

 Last but not least, Equicom was also featured in the media this week. President Dave Mason gave some tips on how micro-caps can generate interest amongst analysts and retail investors in this Globe and Mail article.

 

Crystal Quast
Senior Director, Media Relations