Following the publication today of the FCA’s proposed rule changes to improve the UK framework for listing of commercial companies’ equity shares, Gary Simmons, Managing Director of Equity Capital Markets at the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) said:

“These are welcome proposals which will go a long way towards increasing the attractiveness of the UK as a venue for company listings.

“In particular, we welcome the intention behind the proposed single listing segment, which builds upon the FCA’s proposed disclosure-based approach to financial information, and will replace the more prescriptive rules requiring, for example, a three-year revenue track record. This change will provide more flexibility for companies to tailor their disclosure to their own particular company or circumstances and to provide investors with more relevant information on which to make their investment decisions.

“Implemented properly, we believe that these changes will help to make the listing process simpler and more flexible and also provide greater transparency between issuers and investors.”