Ep 26: Nicholas Ashworth - Measuring Success and Staying Innovative as an IR Leader in a Global FTSE 100 Company

Enquire, the Investor Relations podcast

Today’s guest on the Enquire Podcast is Nick Ashworth, the Director of Investor Relations at National Grid, one of the largest investor-owned utility companies in the world. It has a primary listing on the LSE, where it is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index and a secondary listing in the form of its ADRs on the New York Stock Exchange. Before National Grid, Nick spent 14 years as an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley, latterly leading the European Utilities equity research team, following four years covering consumer and retail stocks across Emerging European countries. In this episode, he shares his experience of transitioning from the sell side to investor relations and offers insight into managing, coaching, and developing an IR team at a large, growing organization like National Grid. We also discuss the value of evolving success metrics, Nick’s board communication and engagement tips, the important role that storytelling plays in IR, and much more!
Key Points From This Episode:

• Insight into Nick’s career journey and how it led him to National Grid.
• How his experience on the sell side informed his approach to investor relations.
• Nick’s take on how sell-side research has changed in the last 10 years.
• Ways that the IR function has evolved since he joined National Grid in 2019.
• What goes into managing, coaching, and developing an IR team.
• The keys to measuring success with National Grid’s 12-month rolling IR plan.
• Tips for communicating and engaging with the board, particularly for early-career investors.
• A look at Nick’s share register and marketing plan for the year ahead.
• Comments on the ADR program, conferences versus roadshows, and investor feedback.
• The importance of internal comms across a large, growing organization like National Grid.
• Regulatory challenges that come with having a split register between the US and UK.
• National Grid’s approach to AI tools for making the IR function more efficient.
• Passionate advice for anyone moving into investor relations from another industry.

Quotes:

“Particularly in a – through-COVID and then post-COVID – world, the way that we engage with investors changed hugely. Trying to find new and innovative ways to do it is important.” — Nick Ashworth [0:07:28]

“Whilst [the board has] lots of expertise in their areas, they’re not the financial communications experts for [the company]. They want to hear what you have to say. It’s a two-way dialogue.” — Nick Ashworth [0:17:14]
“There’s a storytelling function [to investor relations], but you can only do it if you know what’s happening with the numbers and you can see around corners.” — Nick Ashworth [0:35:27]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Nick Ashworth on LinkedIn
National Grid
Grid Guide To… Series
Norges Bank's in Good Company Podcast
Equitory