The Helsinki Stock Exchange issued a warning to Nokia Corp. for what it described as “breaching the disclosure requirements applicable to listed companies.”
The stock exchange said Nokia did not disclose a change in its fourth-quarter earnings per share as it should have. In October, Nokia forecasted it would report EPS of 20 to 22 cents, but when it filed its results in January, the company posted EPS of 29 cents.
“The Disciplinary Committee considered that the change concerning the company’s previously published earnings per share forecast could not be regarded as being of minor significance,” the stock exchange wrote in a statement. “Thus the information about the change should have been disclosed without undue delay after the change had been discovered and the company had become aware of the matter. The company was considered to have been aware of the change by January 14, 2005, at the latest. However, Nokia only disclosed the change in connection with its financial statement release on Jan. 27, 2005.”
The possible sanctions of a breach include reprimand, warning, disciplinary fine, or in an extreme situation, a de-listing proposal.
A Nokia spokeswoman was not immediately available to comment on the warning.
