Air NZ cleared of compliance breach

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Monday 18th February 2002

A new report has cleared Air New Zealand (NZSE: AIR) of breaching NZSE disclosure rules last year but notes that the company could have kept the market better informed.

The Market Surveillance Panel released a report on Monday into the airline's disclosure regime during last year's financial shakedown, including the fiscal 2001 results showing a $173 million operating loss.

In conclusion the panel found there were no breaches of the NZSE Listing Rule 10.1 relating to disclosure and that the company "was conscious of and substantially complied with the requirements of the disclosure rules".

However it also points out that "there was some material which Air NZ might have disclosed to the NZSE but either did not do so or disclosed to or through the news media, without making prior or contemporaneous statements to the NZSE."

The panel says that, in general, it acknowledged Air NZ's explanations, including that the operating loss of $173 million announced in September was in line with an earlier warning and concurred with some analysts' predictions of a $200 million loss.

Although Air NZ has been given the all clear over the issue, the panel has raised questions about the treatment of 'relevant information' under Listing Rule 10.1.

It also notes that "at least as a matter of good practice, major speeches or media statements by an Issuer which contain authoritative expressions of fact or forecast about the Issuer, and are likely to be of great interest to the market, should be made available to the NZSE contemporaneously with release to the news media."

Air NZ has welcomed the panel's finding and company secretary, John Blair, says the report provides valuable guidance for all listed companies in relation to the frequently difficult judgements which must be made about disclosure.

Comments from our readers

No comments yet