Boralex is a major player in renewable energy, specializing in five sectors of activity: wind, solar, hydroelectricity, storage, and thermal. Boralex has been based in Kingsey Falls, Quebec, Canada, for 30 years and has since expanded its horizons and established business in the United States and France.
Stephane Milot is currently the Senior Director of Investor Relations at Boralex. He previously was the Director-Public & Investor Relations at Transcontinental, Inc. and Vice President-Finance & Investor Relations at RONA, Inc.
In 2019, Boralex was an Irwin customer when they switched software providers to a competing IR platform. After spending one year with the competitor, they returned back to Irwin.
Boralex originally decided to switch platforms because they were under the impression that the competitors database was more developed. After switching over to their platform, Stephane quickly found that that wasn’t the case, and their database of investors didn’t contain any more than Irwin’s database. By the time Stephane returned to Irwin, he noted that the Irwin product had continued to develop and expand during his break from the platform.
“The good thing about it is that during the year that I was using a different software, Irwin improved a lot, especially when it comes to the level of information on people and funds. When I came back, I was happy to see that.”
At Irwin, we’ve made substantial investments into our research team that is constantly updating and adding investor information (both institutional and opaque) to our database.
Stephane outlined the key differentiators between the softwares, and explained his reasoning behind why he decided to make the switch, the primary reasons being the product, easy navigation, and the account management experience.
One of the key differentiating factors that Stephane prefers about Irwin is the level and dedication to customer experience and service. He noted that at Irwin there is always someone on the team eager to help.
“With Irwin, it’s the service level, but also the flexibility. They're always ready to find solutions and to help. Irwin takes a more agile approach.”
Stephane found that the navigation of the Irwin platform is very comprehensive and easy to use. “You're not searching too much to find what you need in Irwin.” The data is always available and easily accessible in one centralized platform.
Stephane noted that for the price, Irwin had much more value. “With Irwin, you’re getting the best bang for your buck.”
As Stephane is only a one person team, he works with brokers to help set up their roadshows. “We use a lot of brokers to help us set up the roadshows, but we will use Irwin to get the list of potential shareholders in a region. Then we will send the list to the broker to let them know we want to meet with these people.” Using Irwin, Stephane has been able to set up better quality investor meetings, with a focus on targeting US and Europe based ESG focused funds.
After a roadshow, Stephane’s assistant and his Irwin account manager will assist in uploading any data into the system. They use Irwin’s IRM as their primary record of investor interactions and notes.
“I really like the transcripts and all the forecasts for us, but also for our peers. It’s quite interesting to look at. It’s easy - when I want to get information on a competitor, I go and I get the transcript and I can see what kind of question has been asked, for example, if a competitor has a call, one or two days before our call, then I can see the topics the analyst or the institution is asking them.”
“I think it's a no brainer, I would encourage everyone to use it”
Nothing is more valuable than time, which is why IR software that saves time is crucial. Learn how Irwin helps Sunrun stay efficient!
