CorpComms Magazine

James Henderson, Chief executive, Pelham Bell Pottinger

My view is that common sense rather than historic precedent should prevail on this. Whilst many years ago it was not uncommon to read about financial results before they were released by the London Stock Exchange, regulation of the financial markets has significantly increased over the last 15 years and there are now clear guidelines on the release of price sensitive information on a selective basis.

Within the rules of the Financial Services Authority, there are no rules that say you can exclusively give inside information to one media source whilst the London Stock Exchange is trading.

There are rules that allow information to be released to a number of media sources in the event that the London Stock Exchange is closed, provided that information is released as soon as the market opens.

Given these guidelines I would not advise clients to work outside them - there may be times during a weekend or public holiday when early release of financial results is imperative in which case follow the rules that exist.

A company's financial results categorically equate to Inside Information and there cannot be any justification for breaching the rules regarding early release of inside information.

If information is released in error, then it is imperative that a Regulatory News Service (RNS) statement is put out immediately.

Gay Collins, Chief executive, Penrose Financial

Inadvertently giving information to a journalist prematurely or incorrectly has happened to most of us in the PR industry. There are no agencies in existence that don't make mistakes - the important thing is to learn from the error and ensure that a similar situation does not recur.

When something goes wrong, it is important to always speak to the client as soon as possible and apologise and let them know how you are planning to deal with the situation. That's the most difficult call to make, and the response will depend as much on the quality of the relationship as on the gravity of the mistake. The most senior person on the team should make the call, but if it's really serious the chief executive should do it with them and notes should be taken.  

The PR consultancy and the client need to agree the proposed damage limitation strategy. If the mistake is minor then re-issuing the release with the correct information and a request to delete the earlier version can often quickly deal with the situation painlessly.  If market sensitive information has been released then speed is of the essence to ensure that the situation is rectified such as a correction and/or the relevant exchange is notified of the error. Such situations are where the consultancy's relationships with the media (and analysts) come into their own - journalists are more likely to be forgiving if they respect the consultancy and recognise it as a one-off genuine mistake.

Honesty with the client is paramount: it is essential to keep them abreast of progress while you do everything in your power to keep the mistake from becoming public knowledge. But it happens, and every time I see that City diary story poking fun at the PR agency or the client I think to myself there by the grace of God go I.

Emma Kane, Chief executive, Redleaf Communications

Companies employ PR consultants to position and present their news, and to build levels of familiarity and favourability towards them, in the most effective way.  As the companies' ambassadors, the need for the meticulous execution of these campaigns is paramount.

When stories appear in which the PR consultant becomes the focus, rather than the announcement they have crafted, it is almost always due to a systemic failure on the part of the agency.

Announcements being issued prematurely and draft releases sent to the media should simply never happen. What is worse is that the combination of 'Health and Safety' and the Internet have put paid to the comfort that this PR disaster will be tomorrow's chip paper.

Companies employing consultants have a duty to ensure that the agency they use has in place foolproof processes and procedures.  These can go a very long way to protecting both the client's and the agency's reputations from PR executives' incompetence.

They include:

• deleting all old drafts and marking announcements as final
• saving drafts and finals in separate places
• always checking the 'properties' of a document, saving into a clean file if necessary, to avoid revealing to the outside world how many edits it has been through and how many hours to craft
• double-checking that track changes cannot be revealed on a document exposing your inner most fears about the positioning of a sentence requiring physical client sign off of the final version of an announcement (and by their financial advisers if a listed company)
• getting the final version of an announcement  proofed by a senior executive
• not leaving an intern, however enthusiastic, in charge of submitting regulatory announcements

Most important is to remember that only the paranoid survive!  

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