Today, the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) has issued a Statement of Policy containing a series of measures intended to assist listed companies during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. These measures include: 

• support for the Pre-Emption Group’s temporary guidance with respect to its Statement of Principles, including encouraging investors to support non-pre-emptive offerings of up to 20 per cent. of a company’s existing shares admitted to trading in certain circumstances;
  
  
• encouragement to issuers to consider using shorter-form prospectuses, where permitted under the Prospectus Regulation, for secondary offers targeted at investors in the UK and European Union;
  
  
• a modified approach to working capital statements in prospectuses and circulars to allow certain coronavirus (COVID-19) related-assumptions to the reasonable worst case scenario to be disclosed in an unqualified (or “clean”) working capital statement; and
  
  
• a modified approach to the requirement to hold a general meeting to approve a Class 1 transaction under Listing Rule 10 or a related party transaction under Listing Rule 11 in circumstances where the issuer secures written undertakings from sufficient shareholders in support of the transaction.