Coats, the world’s leading industrial thread manufacturer and a major player in the Americas textile crafts market, has won two awards at the 2016 Corporate & Financial Awards.  It was awarded gold for ‘Best communication with overseas investors and/or media’ and bronze for ‘Best printed report: AIM/ small cap’.

The Corporate & Financial Awards, now in its fifth year, celebrates and showcases excellence in financial communications.  It was held on Tuesday 27 October at The Brewery in the City of London.  The judging panel said this year not only saw the highest number of entries but also the strongest calibre of submissions.

In November 2015, Coats announced its intention to delist from the New Zealand (NZX) and Australian (ASX) Stock Exchanges.  A complex but clear strategy was formed to communicate with three major overseas audiences: retail shareholders, institutional investors and regulators to position the delisting as the logical outcome of Coats’ corporate journey and transition and the geography of its assets and shareholder base.  This resulted in 99% of votes cast in favour at the Annual General Meeting held in May 2016.  The delisting then took place in June 2016.

Paul Forman, Group Chief Executive, Coats, said: ‘This was a unique and highly challenging project with many moving parts across two hemispheres.  It was essential to communicate clearly and effectively with all of our financial, investor and regulatory stakeholders and the challenge of achieving the positive result we did cannot be underestimated.’

Coats published its Annual Report in March 2016 which reflected the first full year of it reporting as Coats Group plc, following its return to the London Stock Exchange as the standalone listed entity in February 2015.  The theme was ‘Enhancing the essential products of life’ to illustrate how Coats works towards helping to design and delivery products and services that enhance people’s lives.

To see the Coats Annual Report go to: www.coats.com/ara15

ENDS