Our Achievements

A few of our successes are listed below - some are completed, but many remain constant work-in-progress.

2011

QCA/BDO Small and Mid-Cap Sentiment Index: Developed, in partnership with BDO LLP and YouGovStone, the QCA/BDO Small and Mid-Cap Sentiment Index – a quarterly online survey that tracks business and economic confidence of the small and mid-cap quoted sector.

Prospectus Directive: Secured a commitment from the Government to bring in two key changes to the Prospectus Directive as soon as possible, which will make raising equity more efficient for quoted companies. Companies in the UK are now able to raise up to €5m or issue an offer to 150 people or less without having to produce a prospectus, as of 31 July 2011.

Venture Capital Schemes: Achieved an extension of the Enterprise Investment Scheme and Venture Capital Trusts so that more quoted companies could benefit from investment from these schemes. 

Disguised Remuneration: Achieved amendments to HMRC’s anti-avoidance tax legislation on disguised remuneration, ensuring that quoted companies can continue to run their share schemes and incentivise employees without a significant amount of added complexity and cost.  

2010

Prospectus Directive:  Successfully lobbied the European Commission and European Parliament to double the threshold above which a prospectus needs to be produced from €2.5m to €5m. The Commission also accepted, and has applied to the Directive, the concept of a proportionate approach to disclosure for SMEs and companies on regulated markets with a market capitalisation below €100m and is exempting issues under Employee Share Schemes.  This will all help to ensure smaller quoted companies can raise capital more quickly and efficiently.

Small and Medium Listed Issuers:  Lobbied with French and German trade associations for Christine Lagarde, French Minister for the Economy, Industry and Employment, to sponsor an independent review of European Directives affecting small and mid-cap quoted companies.  This resulted in Fabrice Demarigny, Partner at Mazars and former Secretary General of CESR, proposing measures for an EU Listing (Small Business) Act.  The report followed extensive consultation across Europe and included several meetings with the QCA and its members.  Tim Ward, QCA CEO, was on a panel for the launch of the report in Brussels.

Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs), AIM shares' inclusion in ISAs:  Working closely with the London Stock Exchange and other market participants, we lobbied the Treasury to extend current tax incentives, such as allowing AIM shares to be included in ISAs, widening the scope of EIS and VCTs and ensuring any CGT reliefs are beneficial for the sector.  This resulted in the announcement by the previous administration of a consultation to consider changes.  We were subsequently able to put forward our proposals in person to the Secretary of the Exchequer ahead of the Emergency Budget.

Market Abuse Directive Review:  Tim Ward, QCA CEO, was invited by the European Commission to participate in a panel session as part of a public hearing on the Market Abuse Directive.

MIFID Review:  Jonathan Eardley, QCA Executive Committee member, was invited by the European Commission to participate in a panel session as part of a public hearing on MIFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive).

Are You Ready Guide:  Launched a new guide for companies aspiring to go public, endorsed by leading figures of the investment community.

HM Treasury Roundtable Discussions with QCA Members:  Improved the QCA’s engagement with HMT officials in their Primary Market team through setting up four roundtable discussions on general market improvements, involving corporates, stockbrokers, other advisers and investors.  We also organised a specific roundtable discussion on non-bank lending to put corporates views directly to Treasury officials.

E-petition on Number 10 website:  We attracted 462 signatures for our petition requesting the previous administration to set up a working group to design an appropriate structure for UK equity markets.  The petition was closed as a result of the change of government.

2009

Review of the Prospectus Directive:  Following the QCA's lobbying and meeting with the EC to directly present our viewpoint, a number of our proposals were consulted upon in the review of the Prospectus Directive. These include the possibility of a simplified prospectus document, raising the current annual amount (€2.5m) which can be raised without having to produce a prospectus, removing the need for a prospectus for offers to existing shareholders, and exempting issues under Employee Share Schemes.

2008

Pre-Budget Report:  A number of the QCA's proposals to ease the impact of the current economic crisis were included in the Chancellor's Pre-Budget Report, including a withdrawal of the planned increased in the small companies' rate of corporation tax and additional carry back of losses up to £50,000 for three years.

Financial Reporting Council's Combined Code Review:  We achieved a concession whereby, in a company outside the FTSE 350, the Chairman may be a member of the Audit Committee (but not its Chairman), so long as he is deemed independent on appointment.

Climate Change Act:  Achieved delay to section 80 of the Bill (which called for all companies that have to produce a Business Review to report on their carbon emissions), until there a generally accepted method of measurement and reporting has been developed.

2007

New AIM Rules:  As part of the QCA NOMAD committee's (now the Corporate Finance Advisors Committee) work on the new AIM Rules introduced in February 07, achieved removal of blanket disclaimer on AIM documents proposed by Stock Exchange.

2006

Filing dates:  The QCA Tax Committee lobbied against the Government's proposal to align the dates for submitting tax returns to HMRC with submitting accounts with Companies House, which would have accelerated tax return preparation by at least three months.  The Pre-Budget Report in December 2006 announced that there would be no change.

Directors' Liability:  The QCA Legal Committee successfully lobbied against  the Treasury's proposal to extend the new liability regime of the Transparency Directive to AIM companies.

Company Law:  Along with the ABI and the IoD, we successfully lobbied the government to include greater protection against litigation as part of the shake-up to company law and ministers agreed to adopt a 'safe harbour' system.

2005

Prospectus Directive:  With APCIMS, the QCA overturned a potentially costly and time-consuming UK interpretation of the Prospectus Directive relating to capital raising by smaller quoted companies.

2004

Operating and Financial Review:  Together with other organisations, we successfully persuaded the DTI (now BIS) to loosen the legal structure of their original proposals and the involvement of auditors. This move should enable company directors to produce more meaningful reports for shareholders, and also avoid extra audit costs.

2003

London Stock Exchange fee reduction:  The QCA, along with many other bodies, registered their disappointment with the substantial fee increases introduced in April 2002, especially as they were introduced alongside cuts in service levels. The LSE announced that the fee increases were to be reduced.

Transparency Directive:  The QCA successfully lobbied strongly against the mandatory nature of the proposal requiring all quoted companies to publish quarterly profit/loss accounts.  This means there has been a significant reduction in the proposed scope of the information required - from interim style accounts to a brief trading statement.  Not only is this saving companies extra internal costs, but also the likelihood of additional audit fees too.

Higgs report:  The QCA was asked to provide company representatives to give their views on Corporate Governance to Derek Higgs during the research phase of his work.  Their comments led to the creation of the small and medium sized company chapter.  The QCA also made representations following the initial proposals which contributed to the amendments made in the final draft - a key concession being the reduction in the minimum number of NEDs required for smaller quoted companies to 2, saving companies considerable costs over time.

Profile of the sector:  The FT dropped its smaller quoted company sector coverage in 2003.  We made representations that coverage should continue to encourage investment in the sector.  It was reinstated, with a specific column dedicated to smaller quoted companies introduced and full page coverage several days a week from October 2004.  The Times subsequently increased its small cap coverage, which helped even more to spread SQC news and stimulate liquidity in the market sector.

Original Prospectus Directive Proposals:  The QCA's work was pivotal in obtaining a number of concessions from the original proposals in the European Commission's Prospectus Directive.  Following our lobbying activities, the key item, namely the requirement for all quoted companies to update their prospectus annually, was dropped by the Commission.  This'win' is estimated to have saved quoted companies an average of £100k p.a each.

2001 to 2003

EIS relief:  Original proposals were for this relief to apply only to companies with under £10m of gross assets.  Due to continued QCA lobbying activities, this threshold was increased to £30m.