I - Background

In this Communiqué, SIX Exchange Regulation (SER) sets out its principles and practice with regard to the grant of extensions to issuers’ annual and interim report publication deadlines, i.e. a temporary exemption from disclosure obligations.

Issuers are required to publish an annual report. This comprises the audited annual financial statements in accordance with the applicable financial reporting standard, as well as the corresponding audit report. The annual report must be published, together with the annual financial statements, within four months of the balance sheet date for the latter, and must be submitted to SER no later than at the time of its publication (Art. 49 Listing Rules (LR), Art. 10 Directive Financial Reporting (DFR) and Art. 9 Point 2.01 Directive Regular Reporting Obligations (DRRO)). Issuers with registered offices in Switzerland must hold their annual general meeting no later than six months after the end of the business year. To ensure that the documentation can be provided to shareholders in due time, the annual report must be available approximately five months after the end of the business year.

Where the issuer is obliged to produce an interim report, such interim report must be published and submitted, together with the interim financial statements, within three months of the balance sheet date for the latter (Art. 11 DFR).

The Regulatory Board may authorise exemptions from certain provisions of the Listing Rules, provided this is not against the interests of the investors or the stock exchange, and provided the applicant can provide evidence that the purpose of the provisions in question can be served satisfactorily by other means (Art. 7 LR). The decision on an exemption from disclosure obligations is delegated to SER. SER is responsible for authorising such exemptions for a maximum three-month period, unless the application is associated with the delisting of the applicant (Point 1.4 Internal Regulations (IRRB)).

II - PRINCIPLES GOVERNING DEADLINE EXTENSIONS

Starting with annual reports for the 2022 financial year (closing at the earliest on 31 December 2022), SER applies the following principles when assessing applications from issuers for extensions to their publication deadline for annual and interim reports.

  1. Subject to a valid justification, SER may grant a one-time extension of one month to the publication deadline for the annual or interim report of the issuer in question. SER will grant this one-month extension irrespective of the actual length of extension applied for.
  2. Further deadline extensions shall not be granted by SER. Instead, applications must be submitted to the Issuers Committee (via SER).
  3. If the annual or interim report is not published upon five (annual report) or four (interim report) months at the latest after the relevant balance sheet date, SER may order the temporary suspension of trading in the securities of the issuer concerned (Art. 57 LR).