Regulators give leeway on company accounts

The FRC, PRA and FCA have announced a series of actions to help listed companies during the Covid-19 crisis. Listed companies may have an additional 2 months to publish audited financial statements. But issuers are reminded that MAR remains in force so companies must fulfil their obligations relating to inside information as soon as possible unless there is a valid reason for delay. FCA has confirmed that issuers will need to request a suspension of listing only if they do not publish within 6 months.

The regulators urge the markets not to draw any adverse inferences about companies that choose to use the extra time to publish statements later than usual.

The notice also confirms that the moratorium asking companies to delay publishing their preliminary statements of account can end on 5 April, but continues to believe the practice of issuing statements earlier than required creates additional pressures that are not necessary.