Digia Plc Stock exchange release 31 March 2017 at 9:05 am
The Nasdaq Helsinki Disciplinary Committee issues Digia Plc with a warning and fine for violating the rules of the Exchange
The Nasdaq Helsinki Disciplinary Committee has issued Digia Plc with a warning and a fine of EUR 40,000 for violating the rules of the Exchange. The decision relates to the Finnish Tax Administration's selection of a solution supplier for the national income register and the communication of this issue. According to the decision, Digia Plc breached the sections of the Exchange's rules relating to misleading communications, the management of insider information and the arrangement of corporate governance. Nasdaq Helsinki has today published the decision of the Disciplinary Committee in more detail.
At 12.08 pm on 14 October 2016, Digia Plc received information that the Tax Administration had chosen Digia as the provider of a national income register solution on the basis of a procurement procedure. The Tax Administration issued Digia with its formal procurement decision by e-mail, at 12.52 pm. At 1.17 pm on the same day, the Tax Administration announced that it had chosen Digia Finland Ltd as the software supplier for the national income register solution and that the total cost of the procurement was around EUR 90 million over a 15-year contract period. Immediately after this, Digia began to draw up its own, rectifying stock exchange release in order to clarify certain issues in the Tax Administration's press release, the content of which highlighted the procurement overall value. Following the publication of the Tax Administration's press release, Digia's share price rose by around 7.8 per cent until trading in the company's shares was suspended. At 4.10 pm on 14 October 2016, Digia Plc issued a stock exchange bulletin as follows, "Finnish Tax Administration chooses Digia Finland Ltd as software supplier of national income register". In this stock exchange release, Digia stated that the total value of the procurement was around EUR 90 million over a 15-year contract period, of which Digia's share would be around EUR 60 million.
In its corrective stock exchange release, Digia did not sufficiently emphasis the framework agreement nature of the Tax Administration's procurement solution, or the uncertainty factors related to the unusually long duration of the contract and the other elements of the framework agreement. Digia takes compliance with the Exchange's rules very seriously. Digia has already begun taking the measures required to avoid the occurrence of similar situations in the future.
For more information, please contact: Mika Kervinen, General Counsel, Digia Plc Tel. +358 50 994 2339, mika.kervinen@digia.com
Distribution: Nasdaq Helsinki Key media www.digia.com
Digia is a profitably growing IT service company that helps its customers harness digital opportunities. As a visionary partner, Digia develops and innovates solutions that support business operations together with its customers. We adapt our expertise to their specific industries to help them develop digital services, manage operations and utilise information. We employ over 870 experts in Finland and Sweden. We are expanding our international presence together with our customers. Digia's continuing operations had net sales of EUR 86.5 million in 2016. The company is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki (DIGIA). www.digia.com
