Transparency Directive rules almost set

The FSA confirms in PS06/11 that it will copy out the Transparency Directive requirements on annual and half-yearly financial reporting and interim management statements by issuers. The regulator says it will provide informal ‘negative’ guidance on the sort of material that it would not expect to see in the management statements. The current Listing Rule (LR) obligation on wholesale debt issuers to produce audited annual reports will also be kept and professional securities market (PSM) issuers will continue to have to publish annual accounts within six months of their year end. There was “overwhelming support” from industry for the proposal to retain the LR requirement that issuers outside the ambit of International Accounting Standard 34 should incorporate in half-yearly reports accounting policy changes that will apply in their following annual report. The LR provisions on timeliness and content of dividend statements will likewise continue to operate. The FSA believes that moving to a permissive regime on publication of preliminary statements of annual results is safe due to the shorter time-frame available for release of these figures under the Directive and the obligation to publish price sensitive information as soon as possible under the Market Abuse Directive.