The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
appears to be ramping up its enforcement of the continuous
disclosure requirements of listed companies under the Corporations
Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act) and the Australian Securities
Exchange Listing Rules, with a particular focus on updating
previously reported financial forecasts. The corporate regulator,
which has the power to issue infringement notices to companies who
fail to disclose price-sensitive information to the market
'immediately', has recently fined construction giant
Leighton Holdings (Leighton) $300,000 in respect of three separate
failures to disclose earnings downgrades in a timely fashion.
This penalty, being $100,000 for each failure and the maximum
permitted under the Corporations Act, appears to have instilled a
sense of caution in other companies wary of violating their own
continuous disclosure obligations, with indications that companies
can expect a more aggressive stance on
