The Government has published its long-awaited White Paper on the reform of the UK’s audit, corporate reporting and corporate governance system including a package of measures aimed at improving the UK’s audit, corporate...more
3/19/2021
/ Audits ,
Board of Directors ,
Consultation ,
Corporate Governance ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Internal Controls ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Public Interest Entities ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Reporting Requirements ,
UK ,
UK Companies Acts ,
White Papers
The FCA has welcomed Lord Hill’s recommendations from the UK Listings Review, launched by HM Treasury last November.
The review has highlighted that the listing regime is in need of reform and now is the time to act....more
3/4/2021
/ Capital Formation ,
Capital Raising ,
Corporate Governance ,
Dual Class Share Structures ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
HM Treasury ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Listing Standards ,
Prospectus ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Retail Investors ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
The FRC has published advice, based on an analysis of 100 companies (FTSE 100 & 250 and Small Cap companies), on how listed companies can report transparently and effectively when departing from provisions of the 2018 UK...more
The Final Hampton-Alexander Review regarding women on boards has been published. This business-led independent Review has achieved significant progress - women now make up around 40%, in aggregate, of the non-executive...more
The current flexibilities offered in the Corporate Governance and Insolvency Act 2020 for holding general meetings are due to expire on 30 March 2021 and although the Government continues to pursue the opportunity to...more
Executive pay has been a hot topic for a number of years but the uncertainty created by the pandemic has resulted in an increased level of scrutiny of public company pay decisions and revised related proxy voting...more
1/27/2021
/ AIM ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Executive Compensation ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Glass Lewis ,
Ireland ,
Proxy Statements ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Remuneration ,
Time Extensions ,
UK
The Investment Association (IA) has published its Shareholder Priorities for 2021 setting out investor expectations on (i) climate change (ii) audit quality (iii) stakeholder engagement and (iv) diversity. This year there is...more
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published Primary Market Bulletin No.32 (PMB No.32) to remind issuers of the changes to market rules as a result of Brexit. Separately the QCA and UHY Hacker Young have published...more
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) conducted a review of Delayed Disclosure of Inside Information (DDII) notifications which identified a number of areas where it will be increasing its oversight in the future. This note...more
The Investment Association (IA) has published (i) additional guidance on shareholder expectations for executive remuneration in light of COVID; (ii) its 2021 Principles of Remuneration; and (iii) its statement on executive...more
The FCA are making changes to the way TR-1 Forms (notifications of major shareholdings) are submitted pursuant to DTR 5. Investors in Main Market companies are being advised to complete the new 2-step registration process,...more
This edition of the Primary Market Bulletin includes an update on the implementation of the European Single Electronic Format, COVID temporary policy measures on corporate reporting and a reminder for issuers and their...more
11/12/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Electronic Filing ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Reporting ,
Insider Information ,
Relief Measures ,
UK
The UK Government has announced that it is extending, until 30 December 2020, the provisions which allow companies to hold AGMs and other general meetings safely.
The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (the...more
The London Stock Exchange (‘LSE’) has agreed a public censure and fine of £300,000 with Yü Group plc for breach of Rules 10 and 31 of the AIM Rules for Companies which occurred when the company disclosed inaccurate financial...more
ESMA has updated its CESR recommendations in line with the Prospectus Regulation and has taken this opportunity to clarify its expectations on key areas such as working capital statements and pro forma information. The...more
To coincide with the FCA’s recent statement on temporary relief for listed companies on publishing half-yearly financial reports, the London Stock Exchange has published similar measures for AIM companies.
Temporary relief...more
The FCA have published temporary measures on the publication of half-yearly financial reports along with commentary on (i) addressing coronavirus-related uncertainties in the ‘going concern’ assessment and (ii) their...more
The government has published the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill (the ‘Bill’) which contains draft legislation on how companies can hold their 2020 AGM in light of the pandemic. Once implemented, these measures will...more
As the AGM season is upon us, many companies have already made the decision to withdraw the proposal to pay a final dividend in order to preserve cash and provide financial flexibility for the future. Other companies are...more
In response to a request from Remuneration Committees of UK listed companies and their advisers, the Investment Association (IA) has published shareholder expectations on how remuneration committees should be reflecting the...more
On 28 March the UK Government announced that it will introduce legislation to ensure that companies can hold Annual General Meetings (AGMs) safely. Legislation is currently being drafted but in the interim, the FRC and BEIS...more
Temporary measures have been published to the publication of annual accounts for Main Market and AIM companies and the dividend procedure timetable. In addition, the FRC has published guidance to assist companies in preparing...more
The London Stock Exchange has published Inside AIM on temporary measures to support AIM companies and nominated advisers (nomads) through the current challenges. It has also written to nomads on the publication of prelims,...more
Despite the cash box being a structure which has seldom been used since March 2015 due to concerns raised by investor bodies, the urgent need for cash in uncertain times may lead to a revival of this once popular...more
The FCA has published a special edition of its Primary Market Bulletin which provides key commentary for issuers and market participants in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
Ongoing disclosure under the Market Abuse...more