The new rules governing publication of half-yearly financial statements by listed companies have led, as intended, to a better spread in the publication times, reducing the number of publications that typically used to occur during the final days of August.
The Royal Decree of 26 March 2014[1], which entered into force in May 2014, eases the obligations of listed companies with regard to the provision of periodic information. The Decree transposes a European directive[2].
Its provisions have restored a deadline of three rather than two months within which listed companies are to publish their half-yearly financial statements.
The reason for extending the deadline was, among others, to achieve a better spread of publications over time. This should benefit small and medium-sized enterprises in particular; more attention will be paid to their financial statements if they do not publish on the same day as larger firms.
The FSMA has observed that a considerable number of companies that were required to publish their half-yearly financial statements at the latest by 30 September 2014 published around the same date as in 2013.
Approximately 80 per cent of the companies published their half-yearly information for 2014 before the end of August. A limited number of companies (6 per cent) published the information in the first half of September, and a good 13 per cent in the second half of September. Only six published on the last day.
There is thus a better spread over time: the number of publications during the period between 28 and 31 August fell by one-third. Since most companies did not publish their information much later than before, the right of investors to receive timely information remained unaffected.