Atria Group Plc's intention was to publish its financial statements bulletin through news agency STT's bulletin service no earlier than February 25, 2004 at 10:00 am. However, the STT bulletin service published the company's financial statement bulletin on February 24, at 3:55 pm. After the error was noticed, the bulletin was withdrawn from the STT bulletin service and the trading in the company's shares on the Main List of Helsinki Exchanges was suspended immediately. The company published the bulletin through the Stock Exchange at 4:57 pm.
According to the Rules of the Helsinki Exchanges, disclosure of information refers to simultaneous notification to the Stock Exchange and the major media. The obligation to provide information is designed to ensure that all parties operating in the market have at their disposal simultaneously sufficient and correct information on the issuer of listed securities, as well as the listed security, in order that the value of shares and other listed securities may be determined in a well-founded manner.
Due to the breach of rules, everyone operating in the market did not have simultaneous access to sufficient and correct information on the contents of the financial statements. The company is responsible for agents it uses for disclosure. The Disciplinary Board considered that Atria had thus breached the requirements A4.111 and A4.21 for simultaneous disclosure.
The Disciplinary Board considered that the breach was due to the company's negligence only. The company has rearranged its disclosure arrangements and methods after the breach, which was taken into account in the decision.