This bumper Christmas edition looks at the key changes since our last Update and at future developments relevant to Official List and AIM companies.
Looking back ...
LISTING RULES, PROSPECTUS RULES AND AIM RULES
LEI REQUIREMENT FOR OFFICIAL LIST AND AIM COMPANIES
Since 1 October 2017, all Official List companies have been required to have a legal entity identifier or "LEI": a unique 20 digit alpha-numeric code which identifies companies participating in financial transactions. The DTRs require Official List companies to submit their LEI to the FCA whenever they make an announcement of regulated information. As a result of MiFID II (which comes into force in January 2018), all AIM companies now also need to have an LEI and should have obtained one by 30 November 2017, in accordance with the LSE's notice. For further details, please see our client notes on these new requirements – Regulated information: new rules for announcements and LEI requirement for AIM companies.
FINE FOR BREACHES OF DTR
In October 2017, FTSE 100 company Rio Tinto Plc was fined over £27 million for breaches of the DTRs, which related to a failure to account correctly for high-value mining assets when publishing its interim results. The company had failed to conduct an impairment test and recognise an impairment to the carrying value of an Australian listed mining company which it had acquired. The failures resulted in breaches of DTR 4 (periodic financial reporting) and in misleading information being released to the market. The FCA stated that a failure by large listed companies to account properly for impairments clearly creates a significant risk that harm could be caused through investment decisions being made on the basis of incorrect information.
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