Oslo Børs criticises Norwegian – again

New rules requiring reporting of short sales, Distrust of Trump Oslo Stock Exchange Oslo BørsOslo Børs (Stock Exchange). Photo: Stein Henningsen

Oslo Børs criticises Norwegian – Third strike

For the third time in eighteen months, Norwegian Airlines is criticised by Oslo Børs (Stock Exchange). The airline promises that they (finally) have updated their routines.


The criticism comes from the fact that Norwegian’s Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft were grounded on March 12th, as a consequence of the fatal crashes involving the same type of aircraft in Indonesia and Ethiopia. This according to Dagens Næringsliv (DN).

At 14.58 the same day, Norwegian issued a press release stating that their Max 8s were grounded. This was followed by a stock exchange announcement, with the same content, one minute later.

Oslo Børs reacts to the fact that the online newspaper E24 published an article as early as 14.40, referring to the selfsame press release.

 

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Abnormal activity

“Oslo Børs emphasises that the turnover of Norwegian shares was abnormally high in the period between 14.40 and 15.00. Likewise, there was an equally abnormal price drop of 8 per cent in just 20 minutes,” DN writes.

The stock exchange, therefore, concludes that Norwegian has not communicated the decision correctly and points to that «listed companies are obliged to publish inside information, which directly concerns issuers, unsolicited and without delay».

Norwegian admits that the notices weren’t issued in the correct order, explaining that they thought that the press release was already published when they sent it to E24.

“We admit that we were not well coordinated internally. We have now updated our routines to avoid similar errors from happening again,” Information Director of Norwegian, Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen, informs.

Norwegian Airlines where let off the hook with a letter of criticism, thus escaping fines or other punishment. Oslo Børs, however, emphasises that this is the third strike – in less than one and a half years – and that «in the event of any future breach of the rules on information management, present and past violations will count as an aggravating factor».


© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
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