AngloGold Ashanti Criticized by JSE for Delayed Sens Earnings Release

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has publicly reprimanded the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)-listed gold miner AngloGold Ashanti plc for violating its listing requirements by postponing the release of price-sensitive financial results on Sens for 27 minutes.

In a regulatory announcement released on Friday, the local exchange revealed that AngloGold Ashanti did not ensure the simultaneous disclosure of its Q2 and six-month financial results, along with its dividend declaration, on 1 August 2025.

Timeline

According to paragraph 18.21(b) of the JSE Listings Requirements at that time, dual-listed companies are obligated to publish price-sensitive announcements on Sens concurrently or no later than their release on foreign exchanges.

Although the JSE was active during this period, AngloGold Ashanti’s earnings release was shared through various international platforms before local investors received it:

• 12:07pm: Shared via third-party distributor Businesswire to the NYSE market.
• 12:10pm: Posted on AngloGold Ashanti’s official corporate website.
• 12:10pm: Distributed globally through Bloomberg once it became public.
• 12:22 PM: Submitted to EDGAR at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
• 12:34pm: Released on the JSE Sens platform.

The JSE launched an investigation after an external source informed the regulator that the company’s price-sensitive results had been available on Bloomberg a full 24 minutes before they were published on Sens.

Investigation and Legal Findings

In response to the investigation, AngloGold Ashanti maintained that simultaneous or nearly simultaneous disclosures on both exchanges were not feasible.

However, after a thorough investigation, the JSE concluded that adherence to the simultaneous disclosure requirement was “reasonably achievable”.

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The exchange pointed out that the NYSE’s pre-opening session commenced at 12:30pm and core trading at 3:30pm, meaning local investors were trading on the open JSE market for 27 minutes while the information was already available internationally.

Market Fairness and Investor Protection

In justifying the public censure against the gold producer, the JSE stressed the importance of equitable information access to uphold market integrity:

“The requirement for simultaneous disclosure on Sens and other exchanges is vital to the principles of fairness, transparency, and market integrity that the Listings Requirements are based upon.

“Timely and equivalent dissemination of information ensures all investors, regardless of their location or the exchange they use, have equal and simultaneous access to such information.”

Addressing the specific risks associated with delayed disclosures, the exchange remarked: “Any delay in information release or releasing it on one exchange before another creates a risk that some investors receive the information first.

“This scenario can lead to trading based on information that has not been made available to the broader market. Such instances undermine the confidence in the market and its fairness.”

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