Pre-IPO Terminal — the FPPP diagnostic for a London listing

FPPP post-mortems

The window was quiet on cases where an authority has stated that a listed or recently-listed company's financial position and prospects procedures failed. Two FCA actions on financial crime and governance controls are included because the regulator stated the failures; neither is an FPPP finding. - The FCA stated that six Annex 1 firms had AML policies, controls and procedures that raised concerns during authorisation; restrictions were imposed at the firms' request. - The FCA found that a former chief executive acted as a front for a disqualified director at an authorised firm, and banned and fined him. - No FCA final notice, FRC sanction, restatement, material weakness disclosure or late-accounts suspension in the fetched items states that a Main Market applicant's FPPP fell short. - Profit warnings and trading updates in the window are not evidence of procedural failure and have not been used as such.

1. 01Anti-money laundering controls that did not meet the threshold for authorisation
2. 02Senior manager acting as a front for a disqualified director

The listing-rules watch

This window's only item bearing on a listing preparation is the FRC's guidance on reporting quality: no rule changed, but the regulator has again shown what it expects to see. - Read the FRC's two thematic reviews now, not after the year-end close. - Map their examples against last year's annual report and log the gaps and owners. - Keep the mapping on file as evidence of pre-publication review.

1. 01FRC publishes two thematic reviews on corporate reporting quality

The London tape

39 admissions, 64 cancellations, 1 live intentions to float.

median ITF → admission: 22d