Stock Exchange cranks up controversial PR machine

By Michele Simpson

Friday 4th August 2000

HIRED: Klaus Sorensen

The Stock Exchange, constantly under fire for the lacklustre showing of the local sharemarket, is hoping the country's most controversial public relations firm will help shine up its tarnished image.

The Stock Exchange has hired Wellington spin doctors Shandwick, hoping it will get more "balance" in the media.

The NZSE is under sustained attack from critics, most recently over its possible merger with the Australian Stock Exchange. It has been criticised as a static organisation that blames everyone else for its poor performance.

"All we are saying is that we want to get on and do our job and a few people tend to not want to recognise the things we have done," Stock Exchange chairman Eion Edgar said.

He said a decision was made at a Stock Exchange board meeting in consultation with managing director Bill Foster to bring in a PR firm.

Shandwick, not shy about public confrontations, is embroiled in a fight with the Public Relations Institute, after lobbyist Nicky Hager laid a complaint with its ethics committee about Shandwick's tactics in working for SOE Timberlands.

"There are a number of misconceptions about the NZSE which we are setting out to clear up," Shandwick chief executive Klaus Sorensen said.

He said the exchange had been cast as a whipping boy for many poor performing listed companies.

A National Business Review-Compaq survey in June found most people believed the NZSE should merge with its Australian counterpart. There is also wide ownership of shares in the general public (31%) compared with international levels.

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