COVID-19 is rapidly evolving and significantly impacting Australia’s economy.  Federal and state governments recently announced further restrictions on business including the shutdown of non-essential business and closure of state / territory borders.  Similar restrictions are also in place in a number of other countries.  In this environment, listed entities are facing considerable uncertainty and, for many, material impacts to their operations.

In our article COVID-19 and your continuous disclosure obligations, we discussed the potential impact of COVID-19 on the continuous disclosure obligations of listed entities.  In particular, we identified that the issue is especially acute for entities that have published earnings guidance.  

In order to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on continuous disclosure obligations, we have reviewed ASX announcements by ASX200 entities in response to COVID-19 from Monday, 2 March 2020 to close of trade on Monday, 23 March 2020.

Our review has identified a number of interesting themes, particularly in relation to earnings guidance.  We hope you find these insights useful.