STOCKHOLM, Sweden, July 2, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Stockholmsborsen's Disciplinary Committee has ruled that four companies -- Feelgood Svenska AB, Rederiaktiebolaget Gotland, BioPhausia AB and Enea Data AB -- must pay fines for breaches of the listing agreement and certain other exchange-related rules.
Feelgood
The Disciplinary Committee concluded that in 2001 this company was in breach of both the listing agreement and the Financial Accounting Standards Council's recommendations. The Committee found that certain irregularities must be regarded as extremely grave and thus addressed the question of whether Feelgood had the ability to fulfill the current listing requirements. This applied particularly to the company's failure to provide information in time about a deviation from an issued forecast and to certain other deviations from generally acceptable accounting practices. The Disciplinary Committee ruled that Feelgood must pay a fine to the Exchange corresponding to five annual fees, or a total of SEK 300,000.
BioPhausia
On November 19, 2001 this company announced via a press release that it had been granted patents in the United States and Australia for a cancer project. It transpired that this patent had been granted as early as September 13, 2001 in Australia and October 16, 2001 in the US and that information about the patent had been published on the websites of the patent authorities concerned the same day as the patent had been granted. According to the company, the reason for its delay was that the company had not received information regarding the patent from its patent representative until November 15. The Disciplinary Committee ruled that the nature of the information about the granted patents was such that it could have an impact on the company's share price and that it could not be regarded as acceptable that the information had been available for such a long time on the websites of the patent authorities before it was made public by the company. The Committee also found that the company had a responsibility in relation to the Exchange for such a failure to provide information even if this failure was caused by a representative commissioned by the company. The Committee imposed a fine corresponding to two annual fees, or a total of SEK 120,000.
Enea Data
The Disciplinary Committee found that Enea Data had failed to inform the Exchange that the company had acquired its own shares on August 8, 2001 and November 16, 2001. Accordingly, the company was in breach of the Financial Instruments Trading Act's provisions regarding the repurchase of shares and of the Swedish Industry and Commerce Stock Exchange Committee's recommendation regarding the purchase and sale of a company's own shares. The Committee imposed a fine corresponding to one annual fee, or SEK 306,300.
Rederi AB Gotland
According to the Disciplinary Committee, Rederi AB Gotland was also in breach of the above rules regarding the repurchase of shares. In addition, this company's purchase of its own shares -- which occurred on January 25, 2002 -- was not conducted on the Exchange, which means it was in breach of the Swedish Companies Act's provisions prohibiting share repurchases outside the Exchange. The Committee imposed a fine corresponding to one annual fee, or SEK 60,000.
The role of Stockholmsborsen's Disciplinary Committee is to consider matters regarding whether Exchange Members and listed companies have contravened the rules and regulations applying to the Exchange. The chairman of the Committee is Supreme Court Justice Johan Munck.
For further information Ulf Lindgren, chefsjurist +46 8 405 70 60 Anders Ackebo, chef for notering och overvakning+46 8 405 70 10
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