A group of Dutch shareholders reacted with dismay on Wednesday to chipmaker ASML’s (AS:ASML) accidental early release of its third-quarter results, but also expressed understanding for what they called a “human error.”
“For a company that is the largest listed company in the Netherlands and the leading technology company in Europe … this is not what we would expect from ASML,” Gerben Everts, chairman of Dutch shareholder rights association VEB, said in an interview.
“They should be ashamed that this happened and that it was so prominent in the news.”
ASML accidentally posted the third-quarter results press release on its website during trading hours, half a day earlier than planned, where it was discovered and republished by Bloomberg, followed by other news organizations.
The company confirmed the authenticity of the press release and released the rest of its earnings information about half an hour later.
These included a downgrade of 2025 revenue and bookings forecasts, leading to the biggest sell-off in shares in 20 years.
CEO Christophe Fouquet apologized in a call with analysts on Wednesday, calling it “regrettable” given the severity of the forecast downgrade.
A spokesman for the Dutch Financial Markets Authority, which oversees such incidents, said it could not comment on investigations into individual companies.
“An important point is that information must be distributed to shareholders at the same time,” the spokesman said.
ASML experienced a similar incident during its 2022 investor day, when an SEC filing on the company’s forecast was released ahead of the Dutch schedule.
In a brief statement on Tuesday’s incident, ASML said the release was due to a “technical error.”
“You can call it a technical error, but it’s basically a human error,” said VEB’s Everts. “Everyone makes mistakes.”
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Reference;
Reuters (2024) ASML’s early earnings publication a ‘human mistake’, shareholder group says By Reuters, Investing.com. Investing.com. Available at: https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/asmls-early-earnings-publication-a-human-mistake-shareholder-group-says-3666124 (Accessed: 16 October 2024).
