The UK Shareholders’ Association (UKSA) believes that the time has come to expose AIM companies’ reporting practices, good and bad, to public scrutiny. We have begun with ASOS and Ithaca Energy, top and bottom of the AIM 100.
There is increasing interest in small companies, especially among private investors, but obtaining reliable information about them is not always easy. Their reporting often leaves much to be desired; some of it is inaccurate. The Financial Reporting Council recognised this in 2014 by starting an investigation of smaller company reporting quality to which the UK Shareholders’ Association (UKSA) has contributed. The FRC’s initial conclusions can be found here; UKSA’s response is here .
The FRC has not commented publicly upon individual companies’ reports, but UKSA believes improvement will not be fast enough unless there is public recognition of good reports and bad. We will highlight good practice when we find it, but we particularly want to draw attention to companies’ reports which do not measure up, particularly for the needs of private investors, whose interests are our greatest concern. Too many are deficient, confusing, or difficult to read whether on paper or on screen.
We will now be looking at numbers 2 and 99, as listed by the Investors Chronicle at the end of April 2015 – GW Pharmaceuticals and Tissue Regenix.
