Following the recent amendments to the Hong Kong Companies Ordinance, as set out in the Companies (Amendment) Ordinance 2001 and the Companies (Summary Financial Reports of Listed Companies) Regulation, the Exchange has amended the Exchange Listing Rules of the Main Board and the Growth Enterprise Market to permit all issuers to distribute summary financial reports in place of a full annual report, provided that they ascertain the wishes of shareholders and comply with the relevant legal requirements of their own jurisdictions and provisions of their own memorandum and articles of association. Issuers, which are incorporated overseas and which wish to distribute summary financial reports, should comply with provisions, which are no less onerous than those under Hong Kong law for issuers incorporated in Hong Kong.

A summary financial report would be derived from an issuer's annual report. An issuer would not send summary financial reports to its shareholders unless it has ascertained whether shareholders wish to receive a full annual report or a summary financial report. An issuer would be considered to have sufficiently ascertained the wishes of a shareholder, if it has sent a notice but does not receive a response within thirty days, in which case a shareholder is considered to have agreed to receive a summary financial report. Shareholders of an issuer will still be entitled to request a full annual report, if they wish to receive one.

The rule amendments are effective for annual reports in respect of accounting periods ending on or after 31 October 2001.

This announcement will be available for viewing on Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited's websites at http://www.hkex.com.hk and http://www.hkgem.com from 18 February 2002.