Success Story:

Sierra Metals

Sierra Metals
2003
Metals
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Company Overview

Sierra Metals is a premier Latin American precious and base metals producer with significant resource growth potential. Headquartered in Toronto, the Company owns and operates three mines in commercial production: the Yauricocha Mine in Peru and the Bolivar & Cusi mines in Mexico.

Vice President of Investor Relations, Mike McAllister, joined Sierra Metals in the spring of 2015 with a focus on developing a comprehensive investor relations strategy for the company. At the time of his arrival, Sierra did not have an IR software in place and were looking for a solution that would allow them to easily track all their IR activity in one place. After assessing the other service providers on the market, Mike thought that Irwin was the best fit due to its easy-to-use interface, modern design and powerful targeting capabilities.

Irwin provides us with all of the information we need in an easily accessible way versus some of the other service providers available on the market.

Areas of Focus

Leveraging NOBO data and organizing his IR program were big priorities for Mike and his team at Sierra Metals. Before using Irwin, the process of accessing NOBO data and keeping their IR program organized was both expensive and time-consuming.

NOBO Data

"We had been leveraging our NOBO lists to get better insights into the changes in our non-reporting shareholder base. We were trying to track changes from report to report, but there was a lot of manual work involved. We had to sort through the poorly formatted data which required quite a bit of time. It was very difficult for us to access any actionable insights from the NOBO data. Irwin's solution has made this process much easier for us."

Data Organization

"Before implementing Irwin, our entire database existed in an excel spreadsheet - so we didn't have any effective way of tracking or analyzing who we had been meeting with. It consisted of a lot of manual work. It reached a point where we needed Irwin to help track our marketing efforts, shareholder data, and the effectiveness of our overall IR program."

How Sierra Metals Uses NOBO Data to Uncover Shareholders Not Included in Public Filings

"We have some major shareholders that hold a significant portion of our stock and though they trade some of our shares that are reported through 13F filings, we have discovered that a lot of them hold shares under non-reported accounts.

One example of this is a US-based family office that holds a significant portion of our stock. We knew that, through reported filings, they held roughly 1% (1.2 million shares) of our company. What we didn't know, until we accessed Irwin's NOBO data, was that they had multiple other groups holding our stock that are not included in 13F filings. That helped us realize that instead of owning roughly 1% of our shares as we had previously thought, they actually owned about 7% through a number of different funds that we were able to uncover thanks to Irwin's NOBO Solution.

Another example of this is a high-net-worth shareholder based out of NY. Public filings showed that he owned less than 1% of our shares, but through Irwin's NOBO data, we uncovered that he owned about 4% of our shares under his wife's name."

Trying to sort through NOBO data without Irwin is a nightmare. The lists arrive in one poorly-formatted spreadsheet that is very difficult to organize.

Mike on Why Leveraging NOBO Data is Crucial for Investor Relations Professionals

"Simply put, without something in place like Irwin's NOBO Solution, you're missing a large part of your shareholder base. You don't even know that they're there - you're missing opportunities for people who are willing to buy or increase their positions to support your stock. If you've got an upcoming financing or important announcement, you are missing people to reach out to. So while you may think you understand who your shareholders are, you really are missing a large portion of your actual shareholder base."

How Irwin Empowers Sierra Metals to Keep Up With Changing Industry Dynamics

Uncovering new shareholders through NOBO lists is only one part of the equation - it's what you do with those new insights that make an impact on your investor relations program. Here is what Mike has to say in regards to leveraging NOBO insights:

"The significant NOBO holders that we uncover through Irwin are a priority for us. The first thing we want to do is ensure that they are informed about our stock and when the time comes for our AGM, we want them to be up to speed about our company story and what they are going to be voting on.

Generally, we want to make sure that our NOBO holders are happy. Once we determine how they feel about the stock, we'll decide whether or not there is an opportunity for them to take on a larger position."

Mike on Using Irwin's Shareholder Data to Keep Sierra's Share Price Balanced

"Through our data in Irwin, and conversations with shareholders, at any given time we have a good understanding of who might be interested in taking on more shares of our company.  The idea here is to avoid a large block of shares hitting the market at once and to place that block of shares with potential shareholders, helping us to avoid a dip in our stock price and keep our share price balanced. An example of this would be with one of our high-net-worth shareholders that we monitor through Irwin. We have taken the time to get them familiar with our company story and the opportunity. Through our NOBO data, we have uncovered shareholders who have considered selling a block of shares and have had our high-net-worth shareholder pick them up - allowing us to keep our share price balanced."

Mike on Using Irwin to Understand Changes in Share Price

"We had a significant drop in our stock price occur and it wasn't related to a shareholder that we had data on through our surveillance data in Irwin. The first thing I did was reference our NOBO holders in the Irwin app which allowed me to identify that an individual NOBO holder had dropped a significant amount of our shares on the market.

While it would have been nice to coordinate a better way for this holder to sell his position, Irwin gave us the insight to adequately assess the purpose for the dip in our stock price, allowing us to explain to the management team the reason for it."

Benefits of Irwin

Since implementing Irwin, Mike has found that it's easier than ever to access the functionality he needs for his team to be successful. Not only has he been able to consolidate all of his shareholder data in one easy-to-use software, he also has the ability to target new investors and report on the success of his IR activity.

Some notable benefits of Irwin include:

360 Degree View of Shareholders

"Irwin provides us with a comprehensive view of our reported, private and non-reported holders. It really gives us a complete view of who is out there, who we should be focusing on, and new potential shareholders."

Improved Shareholder Communications

"Not only does Irwin's NOBO Solution increase the amount of shareholder data we have access to, through the Irwin Mail feature we have the ability to send out newsletters, quarterly updates and other important pieces of information to our entire shareholder base. It's a great tool to do bulk outreach."

Increased Organization

"Irwin allows us to be much more organized compared to just using a spreadsheet. If we're identifying new potential shareholders, we will add them to Irwin and tag them, as well as keep track of where we've met them and use notes to outline their feedback.

If you’re serious about improving your IR program, Irwin is the right solution for you. It's crucial to track data, understand your shareholders and to be able to target new ones - it is essential to do that. You’re living in the past if you’re still trying to do that manually through an excel. It is not cost-effective, so while you may be worried about the cost of a subscription, the cost savings in terms of value added is going to make it worthwhile a spreadsheet.

Mike McAllister
VP of Investor Relations
Sierra Metals Inc.

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