AIM companies miss annual reports web deadline
More than 30 AIM companies have failed to meet a new rule demanding they maintain an internet site to make annual reports available to shareholders
AIM companies must maintain a website on which essential documents should be
available. Documents including admission papers, the annual reports and accounts
and any communications sent to shareholders within the last 12 months must be
available on the website.
Though a large proportion of companies met the deadline ¬ 1,654 out of 1,688
quoted companies ¬ a small but significant group did not.
In the weeks before the compliance date of 20 August, corporates on the
junior exchange had been sluggish in their efforts to comply, which led to a
flurry of activity on the eve of the deadline.
On the Friday before the rule came into force, 600 AIM companies scrambled to
inform the stock market they were now compliant with the regulations, but major
teething problems still remain.
A study showed that10 of the largest 100 companies were barely making the
grade. The survey, carried out by corporate communications specialists Investis
on August 20, showed that ten of the Top 100 AIM companies met less than 50% of
the compliance criteria.
AIM’s detractors in the US will seize upon the fact that publishing admission
documents on a website could be viewed as constituting an offer to buy
securities under the US Securities Act.
Corporates are attempting to overcome this potential stumbling block by
creating a ‘click-through’ feature on their site, whereby someone accessing the
admission document must first confirm they are non-US based.