Article 65 Content and Preparation of a Public Announcement
Content of announcement:
The content of a press or other public announcement is as important as its timing. Each announcement should:
65.1 Be factual, clear and succinct.
65.2 Contain sufficient quantitative information to allow investors to evaluate its relative importance to the activities of the issuer.
65.3 Be balanced and fair. Thus the announcement should avoid:
65.3.1 Omission of important unfavourable facts, or minimizing such facts (e.g. by "burying" them at the end of a press release.)
65.3.2 Presentation of favourable possibilities as certain, or as more probable than is actually the case.
65.3.3 Presentation of projections without sufficient qualification, or without a sufficient factual basis.
65.3.4 Use of promotional jargon calculated to excite rather than to inform.
65.3.5 Negative statements phrased so as to create a positive implication e.g. "The Company cannot now predict whether the development will have a materially favourable effect on its earnings," (creating the implication that the effect will be favourable even if not materially favourable), or "The Company expects that the development will not have a materially favourable effect on earnings in the immediate future," (creating the implication that the development will eventually have a materially favourable effect).
65.4 Avoid over-technical language, and where possible, use language comprehensible to a layman.
65.5 Explain, if the consequences or effects of the information on the issuer's future prospects cannot be assessed, why this is so.
65.6 Clarify and point out any reasonable alternatives where the public announcement undertakes to interpret disclosed information.