The rapid spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) throughout the world and the impact of administrative measures to contain it represent a growing challenge for the management of companies. On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the existence of a pandemic. The main focus now is to guarantee the safety of workers and employees. However, the potential repercussions on the activities of companies – in the short and medium term – are vast, complex and, in certain cases, they conflict with each other.
Although the impact of the pandemic is difficult to assess and predict, issuers should consider whether COVID-19 will have an impact on their performance and to what extent they must disclose this information to the market.
On 11 March, ESMA published a recommendation for financial markets participants, where it stresses the importance of: