Over 90% of Top 100 AIM Companies Fail to Meet Rule 26 Compliance Four Weeks Before Deadline
With only four weeks left to comply with the Rule 26 website
regulations, only 6 of the top 100 AIM companies’ websites
currently achieve full compliance, according to a survey carried
out by Investis. Fewer than a third of the companies surveyed
achieve a compliance score greater than 50% and one company still
does not have a website!
Rule 26, part of the London Stock Exchange’s revised AIM
Rules for Companies – a set of regulatory requirements which
must be met by all companies quoted on the AIM market –
stipulates that all AIM companies must have a website within which
they maintain specific information. Companies were given six months
to bring their websites into line with this rule, which comes into
force on 20th August 2007.
Investis carried out a detailed compliance audit of the websites
of the 100 biggest AIM companies, assessing them against 28
criteria derived from Rule 26. The results show that at this late
stage, and even amongst the largest AIM companies, there is still a
long way to go. Most companies do provide a basic level of investor
relations content but it appears that the majority continue to
overlook much of the detail which the regulator has deemed
necessary.
Charles Hamlyn, a director at Investis, commented, "We have seen
some confusion in the market recently about what compliance with
Rule 26 means. But we were surprised to find how far companies
still have to go with only four weeks until the 20th August
deadline."
He added: "A company's website really should be the most
authoritative source of information about the company for
investors. Rule 26 is a bare minimum from a communications
perspective; companies need to see beyond this and recognise the
important role that the website plays in attracting potential
investors and in reinforcing their value proposition to existing
shareholders.”
For more information about the contents and findings of the
report, please contact
Al Loehnis on +44 (0)20 7038 9000 or
email al@investis.com
About Investis
Investis are the leading specialists in helping quoted companies
use the Internet for online corporate communications. Our services
range from designing, building, hosting and managing corporate and
investor websites, to online annual reports and webcasting.
We work with over 400 companies in 11 European countries, from
the smallest companies to the largest, including more than 50% of
the FTSE 100 and 30% of the FTSE Eurotop 300 and a large proportion
of European and AIM-quoted companies.