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The SWX Swiss Exchange has imposed a fine on IVF HARTMANN Holding AG, Neuhausen, for violation of provisions of the Listing Rules and the Ad hoc Publicity Directive. The fine imposed by the sanction commission of the SWX is for the company’s publication of financial results for 2006 that did not conform to applicable rules and regulations.
According to Art. 72 of the Listing Rules and the Ad hoc Publicity Directive, an issuer must communicate any potentially price-sensitive facts which arise in its sphere of activity and are not of public knowledge. The issuer must publish the information without delay as soon as it has knowledge of the main points of the pricesensitive facts in question.
According to the business and legal practice of the SWX, the publication of financial figures (both yearly and interim) is a potentially price-sensitive fact and must be communicated pursuant to the Ad hoc Publicity Directive.
IVF HARTMANN Holding AG announced its financial results for 2006 during trading hours on 27 February 2007. However, the company already knew the evening before what its financial results for 2006 were and should have made a public announcement on 26 February 2007 after close of trading. Moreover, communication was staggered, i.e. various interested parties were notified with a delay of up to an hour. The company was therefore in breach of the principle of equal treatment.
In addition, the annual report was not published on the website at the address communicated to the SWX, as required under mrn 9 of the Ad hoc Publicity Directive.
The sanction commission of the SWX Swiss Exchange has imposed a fine of CHF 10’000 on IVF HARTMANN Holding AG for multiple violation of provisions of the Ad hoc Publicity Directive and hence of the Listing Rules.
On 31 August 2007, the SWX Swiss Exchange announced an agreement it had reached with IVF HARTMANN Holding AG in connection with a different case concerning violations of the Swiss GAAP FER accounting standards in the company’s consolidated accounts for 2006. The company retroactively corrected the deficiencies noted by the SWX in its 2007 semi-annual report in accordance with the provisions of Swiss GAAP FER.
Event-specific reporting in compliance with applicable directives forms an integral part of the information that contributes to transparent trading in accordance with the provisions of the Stock Exchange Act and the Listing Rules. One of the tasks of the SWX Swiss Exchange is to enforce the transparency provisions applicable to issuers.
Information on ad-hoc-publicity provisions is available at: http://www.swx.com/admission/being_public/publicity_en.html
Previous decisions of the SWX relating to ad hoc publicity are available at: http://www.swx.com/admission/being_public/sanctions/ad_hoc_en.html
