Estate agency Countrywide has delayed publishing its 2019 results after the UK’s financial regulator asked companies to postpone reporting.
The Financial Conduct Authority said this week that it “strongly requests” listed companies not to publish preliminary financial statements for at least two weeks, allowing them more time to assess the impact of the coronavirus on their businesses.
Fellow regulator the Financial Reporting Council suggested the delay be extended to “other corporate reports… such as interim financial statements and final audited financial statements”.
Countrywide had not set a date for its full-year results, but had said it expected them to be reported before the end of March. Today it said it would delay the publication but did not give a new timescale.
Property investor Regional REIT has also delayed its final results, which were due to be published today. It also postponed its annual general meeting and said that due to the market volatility caused by the spread of Covid-19, it is no longer considering an equity fund raising.
PRS REIT said it will now delay its interim results until the end of March, but issued a trading update in which it said that although the coronavirus is “creating macro uncertainties”, the company’s board believes it has a “resilient” business model and has had an “encouraging” first half to its year.
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