Mumbai: Standard & Poor''s has started the Corporate Equity Research Service in Hong Kong and the rest of Asia, in response to a growing market need for investment research on small-to-middle cap companies.

Under the service, listed companies may appoint Standard & Poor''s Equity Research, which will provide quality and detailed third-party research and valuations on their stocks. This can be distributed to the investors through Standard & Poor''s network and distribution channels.

Officials said there was a shortage of coverage of small-to-middle cap companies in the research market due to the shifting focus of sell-side firms, which are increasingly concentrating on larger companies. Yet in order to make more informed investment decisions, investors need high quality research analysis on all targeted stocks, including small-to-middle cap companies.

Standard & Poor''s Corporate Equity Research service is aimed at enhancing transparency of small - middle-cap stocks and consequently increasing their market liquidity.

When a company subscribes to the service for the first time, Standard & Poor''s will provide investors with an Initiation Report covering company description, management and shareholders'' profile, corporate governance, business and strategy, SWOT analysis, industry overview and outlook, financial analysis, earnings quality analysis and earnings forecast and valuation.

Investors will receive ongoing coverage through an Update Report, which consists of three short and one long update per year.