Over the years, mentions of ‘Russia’ in earnings call transcripts have shown a systematic decline, according to GlobalData. An analysis of the leading data and analytics company’s Company Filing Analytics database—which tracks and analyses the earnings transcripts of more than 7,000 companies worldwide—finds that the number of corporate discussions around ‘Russia’ fell from well above 800 in Q1 2016 to below 300 in Q4 2021—the lowest it has been in six years. GlobalData notes that recent geopolitical tensions around Russia will not help in slowing this trend.
Rinaldo Pereira, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Analysis of Q1 2022 transcripts has already seen a rise in discussions of keywords such as ‘sanctions’ and ‘tensions’, regarding Russia. Further escalations between Russia and Ukraine will likely impact both the frequency Russia is mentioned in company filings, but also the corporate sentiment** of global companies towards Russia. While the country has not yet reached the sentiment lows seen in 2020—which came about due to COVID-19’s impacts on demand and supply—worsening tensions will only add to the uncertainty felt by companies with exposure to Russia.”
Looking at top keywords used within earnings transcripts in relation to Russia in 2016, companies discussed ‘revenues’, ‘market share improvement’, ‘growth’, and ‘investment’. As expected, the oil & gas sector had the most companies discussing Russia in 2022, followed by the technology sector. Companies such as CyberOptics Corporation and IPG Photonics Corporation discussed a potential disruption in component supply amid heightened tensions.
Russian companies listed elsewhere are likely to face more sanctions. While firms with planned or postponed initial public offerings (IPOs) such as Cognitive Pilot, Dodo Brands, and Nord Gold could be forced to reconsider listing or further postponement amid the tensions.
*Until 17 February
** GlobalData uses an advanced machine learning algorithm to calculate sentiment in a range of 0 to 1, with 1 being the most positive. GlobalData’s Company Filing Analytics Database provides near real-time analysis of quarterly & annual reports, earnings call transcripts, IPO filings, events presentations and ESG filing trends for publicly listed companies globally. Higher Sentiment score indicates positivity in company filing documents as part of the management’s discussion, analysis, and risk factor sections. In transcripts, scores are calculated separately on the full document and speech
