AMF publishes draft recommendation on quarterly and interim financial disclosure 

In anticipation of the transposition of the revised Transparency Directive into national law, the AMF is publishing a draft recommendation to accompany the abolition in 2015 of the obligation to produce quarterly financial information.

The revised Transparency Directive (2013/50/EU) adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on 22 October 2013 stipulates, among other things, that Member States may no longer require listed companies to publish quarterly financial information.

In France, the measures for transposing the revised directive feature in the draft law, tabled at the National Assembly on 16 July 2014, bringing a number of provisions into line with European Union economic and financial law (the “DDADUE” law). This draft law provides for the abolition of the requirement to produce quarterly financial information. If these changes are voted in, they should come into force in the course of 2015.

At the start of 2014, the AMF set up an ad hoc working group that was mainly made up of members of its Disclosures and Corporate Finance Consultative Commission. The group was tasked with looking into the drafting of a recommendation to accompany the abolition of quarterly financial disclosure. A draft is being published today. A final version of this recommendation will be published when the “DDADUE” law is published.

The draft recommendation is built around the following four points:

• Issuers may choose whether or not to publish quarterly or interim financial information; they should adopt a clear course of action which remains stable over time;
• If quarterly or interim financial information is published, it must be accurate, precise and fair;
• The principle of equal access to information between the different categories of investors and between countries must be respected;
• If this information is inside information, the permanent disclosure requirements remain in force.

Source: AMF- AMF publishes draft recommendation on quarterly and interim financial disclosure

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