KEY POINTS:
The NZX has given its members the stock market equivalent of a "stern talking to", saying companies must do a better job of disclosing market-sensitive information.
In a notice published on the NZX website yesterday, the exchange says it is "unhappy with recent examples of poor timing and lack of detail in disclosures by some companies".
While the notice does not name any companies specifically, listed companies Guinness Peat Group (GPG) and SkyCity are understood to have prompted complaints to the NZX about the way they disclosed news last week.
Last Thursday GPG's shares were put on a trading halt by the NZX after information began to filter to the market about a $230 million fine imposed on its Coats business by the European Competition Commissioner. The EU ruling came out overnight New Zealand time. GPG shares fell 5c in morning trading before the halt was called.
On Friday SkyCity disclosed news of takeover interest - at significant premium to the current price - buried in a release with the heading "Profit Distribution Plan and Associated Disclosure".
The release upset a number of brokers and investors caught off guard as the share price soared.
"When investors hear that the market has learned of material information only via international newswires, or that companies have included significant material information in other unrelated market releases, their confidence in the credibility of those companies, and the market as a whole, is invariably dented," the notice said.
Not all of the most recent cases constituted actual breaches of the Listing Rules, which meant there was little the NZX could do by way of imposing penalties, the notice said.
"It is intensely frustrating for NZX that it is not able to do so, when overall market confidence is suffering because a few companies are failing to recognise the rights of New Zealand investors to expect equal access to good-quality information about the companies they own."
A spokeswoman for the NZX had no further comment yesterday.
