The man hired by Newcrest Mining to investigate its disclosure scandal has found no “smoking gun”.
But he admits he did not interview any of the financial analysts involved.
Newcrest’s share price plunged when analysts downgraded their forecasts for the company, days before a market update on June 7.
The market update included details of a massive $6 billion-plus in writedowns, sparking allegations Newcrest had selectively briefed analysts from firms such as UBS and Citi, providing them with information ordinary shareholders didn’t have.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is currently investigating the matter, but in the interim Newcrest paid former ASX chairman Maurice Newman to run what it says was an independent inquiry.
He has found virtually no wrongdoing by the company, but criticised analysts and ASIC over the affair.
“Most often there is a “smoking gun” which confirms a lax approach to investor relations, or, a specific event or events where a breach or breaches, intended or inadvertent, have occurred,” Dr Newman said in his report.
“This is not the conclusion I have reached.”
Mr Newman suggested what had happened was inexperienced, overworked analysts were missing important information, rather than some being selectively briefed.
He also said ASIC’s investigation made it impossible for him to get access to analysts.
My sense is that the company takes its continuous disclosure obligations very seriously and, by and large, has in place processes to reinforce this,” Dr Newman said.
“However, this information does not always appear to have been understood in the marketplace.”
Some analysts not involved in the writedowns have told AAP that selective briefings were wrong but commonplace, and that Newcrest just badly handled the events in question.
However IG market strategist Evan Lucas said any analyst worth their salt would have downgraded Newcrest anyway, considering it had missed gold production targets, its cost had soared, and the gold price had fallen.
“They (analysts) should have been moving probably a bit earlier than they did, they were massively behind the market,” Mr Lucas told AAP.
Mr Newman’s 17 recommendations to Newcrest included holding less proactive analyst briefings, and holding no meetings for two weeks before scheduled market announcements.
Australasian Investor Relations Association chief executive Ian Matheson backed Dr Newman’s report, but said he was unsure if he agreed with the recommendation to deal less proactively with analysts.
