What must be announced, by what media, and when?

Often, inside information must be disclosed without delay. If it is necessary to clarify a situation before a full announcement is made, you should consider whether the organisation should make a short holding announcement pending the release of a fuller announcement.

As well as the inside information itself, the organisation might also want to include other details in the announcement, for example:

  • the background to the crisis
  • how the organisation intends to deal with the crisis and its consequences (which may themselves constitute inside information in any event)
Regulatory announcements should be prepared to a high standard and should not be misleading, false or deceptive nor omit anything likely to affect the import of the information.

Typically, the organisation’s investor relations team will be able to arrange for publication on a regulated information service (RIS).

In the case of a regulatory or criminal investigation, any public announcement may also need to be agreed with the relevant regulator or prosecuting authority.

Consideration should be given to using the appropriate information service or disclosures. For example in England and Wales, the announcement(s) should be published on an RIS such as the London Stock Exchange’s Regulatory News Service (RNS), while in Japan the announcement(s) should be published on the TDnet system.

The organisation should also be prepared to respond to any questions that the stock exchange may raise in relation to the contents of the announcement prior to publication.