EU Markets Watchdog Issues Warning to Companies Over Analyst Calls

The European Union's securities watchdog, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), stated on Wednesday that companies must refrain from sharing market-sensitive information with external analysts before releasing their financial statements.

ESMA emphasized the importance of adhering to EU laws designed to prevent market abuses during "pre-close calls," which are communications between companies and analysts who produce research, forecasts, and recommendations on company shares and bonds, conducted before the publication of financial statements.

The watchdog referred to recent media reports linking high volatility in share prices to these 'pre-close calls'.

"Therefore, issuers should only share non-inside information during these 'pre-close calls'," ESMA stated.

Paraphrasing text from "Reuters" all rights reserved by the original author.