lient A was a railroad electronic signal equipment manufacturer, primarily for freight haulers, but more recently for commuter railroads as well. About 90% of its business was with U.S. and Canadian railroads, the balance overseas. Its revenues grew steadily from $5 million to more than $300 million from the early 1970s through the mid-1990s. Domestic growth was curtailed in by the mid-1990s because of many mergers within the freight railroad industry, which severely limited the number of customers and prospects. The European market was more promising, largely because rail transportation is the primarily used for freight as well as to transport commuters and intracity passengers. However, even though our client had won several sizable contracts in England, it would be a long-term uphill battle to penetrate the European market. It was already well-served by huge European conglomerates, which were many times the size of our client. Our client needed a well-financed, world-wide partner to offset this entrenched competition.

Solution: We structured our client’s annual report to showcase its considerable engineering expertise, its success with domestic commuter rail customers and its recent successful inroads into Europe. This strategy helped to attract corporate suitors that were in allied businesses and wanted a foothold in Europe. After two years, one of the largest companies in the world acquired this client at a price that was nearly double its then market price.

Moral of the Story: Sometimes an annual report can be used to attract corporate suitors that will pay much more than the current market price .