Amendment No. 8 to the Stock Exchange's Listing Rules has taken effect since 1st July, 1996, (except for the directors' remuneration provisions which became effective from 30th September, 1996) and relates to:

1. Directors' remuneration. These implement the outstanding recommendations of the Greenbury Report on directors' remuneration and relate to long term incentive schemes; discounted options; and phasing of options.

2. Listing application procedures. The Listing Rules have been amended to allow periodic block listing applications to be made. This will allow a company to make a block application for shares which the company expects to issue in the future and, effectively, the block listing will continue until the maximum number of shares dealt with thereunder have been issued. Shares issued under the block listing must be notified to The Stock Exchange every six months.

3. Continuing obligations. A number of changes have been made to Chapter 9 as follows:

  • The requirement to publish half-yearly reports can now be done by way of release to The Stock Exchange's Regulatory News Service, rather than having to make copies available at an address in the U.K (or Ireland). The requirement to send the report to shareholders or insert it in a national newspaper continues to apply.
  • The requirement for companies to give advance notice of impending results or dividend announcements has been deleted, though companies may still do so if they so wish.
  • The requirement to provide a negative statement in the Annual Report and Accounts that directors have no interest in any significant contracts with the company has been deleted.
  • The requirement in the Listing Rules to include a statement in a company's notice of the AGM that service contracts are available for inspection has been removed (this is as a result of the Greenbury requirement that such contracts be made available for inspection at all times).
  • Obligations resulting from a company changing its accounting reference date are embodied in the Rules. These obligations have been applied unofficially by The Stock Exchange for a number of years.

4. Property companies. Changes to the Rules for property companies relating to appraisals and valuations have been introduced.

5. Asset backed debt securities. The requirements in relation to these securities have been updated to reflect the types of issues now being made - previously they had referred only to loan or mortgage related issues.

Amendment No. 9, which was issued recently, came into effect on 18th November 1996. The main changes introduced by amendment No. 9 include:-

  • Changes to Chapter 15 to clarify the treatment of warrants and that a company is precluded from purchasing its listed securities during a prohibited period under the Model Code;
  • Changes to Chapter 16 introducing further exemptions from the Model Code; and
  • The introduction of new rules in Chapter 21 to allow the listing of authorised property unit trusts and housing investment trusts.

The Irish Stock Exchange has issued a revised set of Notes on The Listing Rules ("Green Pages") dated July 1996 which amend The London Stock Exchange's Listing Rules, for application in respect of The Irish Stock Exchange.

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