The Disciplinary Committee of Nasdaq Stockholm informed that it has found that Sandvik AB (“Sandvik” or “the Company”) has breached Nasdaq Stockholm’s Rule Book for Issuers (“the Rule Book”) and, accordingly, has imposed a fine on Sandvik amounting to one annual fee, corresponding to an amount of SEK 3,105,000.
The Disciplinary Committee has found that Sandvik has contravened Section 3.1 of the Rule Book by publishing its interim report for the second quarter of 2017 on the Company’s website before the report was disclosed in a correct manner as stipulated in the Rule Book.
At 10:33 a.m. on July 17, 2017, during trading hours, Sandvik mistakenly published its interim report on the Company’s website before it had been disclosed by way of a press release, which subsequently took place at 10:47 a.m. The news agency Bloomberg published information from the report in the form of news flashes starting at 10:40 a.m.
The Disciplinary Committee has concluded that Sandvik’s interim report was available during trading hours on the Company’s website for seven minutes from 10:33 a.m. to 10:40 a.m. on July 17, 2017 and that news flashes covering the content of the report had been published from 10:40 a.m. The interim report was published in accordance with the provisions of the Rule Book concerning disclosure by way of a press release at 10:47 a.m.
Inside information was thus available to an unknown number of individuals for a period of 14 minutes between 10:33 a.m. and 10:47 a.m. The Company has thus contravened Section 3.1 of the Rule Book.
Given Sandvik’s intention to publish its interim report during trading hours and the fact that a decision was taken earlier that day to change the time of publication of the report, it is the opinion of the Disciplinary Committee that the Company should have maintained an extra high level of caution in relation to the disclosure of the interim report. Accordingly, Sandvik has been ordered to pay a fine corresponding to one annual fee.