ASIC fines media company for lack of annual reports; Epic Energy hit with $20,000 infringement: Midday Roundup

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has fined a Queensland-based digital news business for failing to lodge annual reports for four years.

News and Sport International Ltd pleaded guilty in Brisbane Magistrates Court today to four charges of failing to lodge reports with ASIC, in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

It was fined $6000 and a conviction was recorded.

As a publicly listed company, the law requires it to lodge annual reports with ASIC. The company has since lodged the reports.

ASIC Commissioner Greg Tanzer said in a statement that ASIC is determined to ensure that investors and the public have “accurate and timely information”.

Epic Energy hit with $20,000 infringement

Epic Energy has paid a $20,000 infringement for submitting incorrect pipeline data to the Australian Energy Market Operator following action by the Australian Energy Regulator.

Epic owns and operates the Moomba to Adelaide pipeline, which provides gas to the Adelaide Short Term Trading Market.

It provided incorrect data to the AEMO for a 13 day period throughout June and July 2013, related to a faulty meter.

The company had the same issue in 2012 and advised the AER that it had implemented alarms to identify faults in data generation; however it was found after an ownership change that this had not occurred.

The AER said it believed the recent errors would likely not have occurred if Epic had implemented the alarms in 2012.

“The AER expects participants to address system issues when they are identified. This is of particular importance when system errors can impact on prices in the markets,” AER chairman Andrew Reeves said in a statement.

Shares drop on open

Aussie shares have fallen this morning, ahead of consumer confidence and inflation figures to be released on Wednesday.

The S&P/ASX200 fell 37.2 points to 5268.7 at 12:01pm AEDT. On Friday the Dow Jones closed 41.55 points higher, up 0.25% to 16,458.56.