Relief for general meetings and financial reporting extended as COVID-19 persists in Australia.
As the COVID-19 pandemic persists in parts of Australia, the Australian Government, ASIC and ASX have extended their relief for Australian entities from certain general meeting requirements and financial reporting deadlines, as described below.
General meeting requirements
The Australian Government has extended its relief under the Corporations (Coronavirus Economic Response) Determination (No. 1) 2020 (Determination) for a further 6 months until 6 May 2021.
The Determination provides relief for Australian entities in relation to their requirements to prepare for and hold general meetings.
Pursuant to the Determination, Australian entities are permitted to conduct general meetings by using video conferencing technology, provided that all shareholders have the ability to participate in the general meeting and the technology allows for electronic voting.
The Determination also allows for the distribution of notices of meeting by electronic means, including through the company’s website or by sending a PDF version of the notice of meeting via email to shareholders. This relief eliminates the printing and postage costs that are usually associated with distributing notices of meeting to shareholders.
Financial reporting deadlines
In May 2020, ASIC granted certain relief to Australian publicly listed entities under the ASIC Corporations (Extended Reporting and Lodgement Deadlines – Listed Entities) Instrument 2020/451 (Instrument). On 16 June 2020, in accordance with the Instrument, ASX released a class waiver granting an extension to the lodgement deadlines for audited/reviewed accounts under Listing Rules 4.2B and 4.5.1 (Class Waiver).
The Class Waiver allows listed entities to extend the release of audited/reviewed accounts, if the following requirements are satisfied:
the listed entity provides their unaudited/unreviewed accounts to the market and any information required by Appendix 4D or 4E by the usual lodgement deadline; and
at the same time as lodging their unaudited/unreviewed accounts, the listed entity announces to the market that it is relying on the Instrument to extend their required lodgement date and that it will make a further announcement to the market if their audited/reviewed accounts are materially different to their unaudited/unreviewed accounts.
Listed entities who follow the above requirements may extend their lodgement deadlines by an additional month. Despite the Class Waiver, ASX has noted that listed entities are still encouraged to lodge their audited/reviewed accounts by the normal deadlines in accordance with the Listing Rules, taking into account the interests of shareholders, creditors and the market generally.
Important
The contents of this publication should not be replied upon as legal advice, but instead as commentary and general information. Specific legal advice about your circumstances should always be sought separately before taking nay action based on this publication.
Contact the authors
George Henderson
george.henderson@aghlaw.com.au
+61 408 909 575
Timothy Doukakis
timothy.doukakis@aghlaw.com.au
+61 404 331 996