Boiler Room fraud and unsolicited communications to shareholders
We are aware that from time to time our shareholders have received unsolicited telephone calls and/or mail which purport to come from Halma or to be authorised by Halma.
We would like to provide reassurance that no employee of Halma would ever contact our shareholders in this way and we would not authorise any other individual or company to do so.
Halma is obliged by law to make its share register publicly available on request and, as a result, it is possible that shareholder address information could be used by third parties to obtain telephone numbers and/or send unsolicited mail.
However, new provisions under the 2006 Companies Act enable us to challenge a request to make the Halma share register available when the reason given for the request is not acceptable to us; we will be taking advantage of these provisions as appropriate.
The practice of Boiler Room fraud has been highlighted by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA), and their warning notice to shareholders is reproduced below. Our registrars, Computershare Investor Services, also have an informative FAQs section on boiler room scams on their Investor Centre website: Computershare boiler room scams FAQs
For further information, please contact:
Carol T Chesney, Company Secretary, Tel +44 (0)1494 721111.
FSA and ICSA guidelines
In recent years, many companies have become aware that their shareholders have received unsolicited phone calls or correspondence concerning investment matters. These are typically from overseas based 'brokers' who target UK shareholders, offering to sell them what often turn out to be worthless or high risk shares in US or UK investments. These operations are commonly known as 'boiler rooms'. These 'brokers' can be very persistent and extremely persuasive, and a 2006 survey by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has reported that the average amount lost by investors is around £20,000.
It is not just the novice investor that has been duped in this way; many of the victims had been successfully investing for several years. Shareholders are advised to be very wary of any unsolicited advice, offers to buy shares at a discount or offers of free company reports. If you receive any unsolicited investment advice:
- Make sure you get the correct name of the person and organisation
- Check that they are properly authorised by the FSA before getting involved by visiting
www.fsa.gov.uk/register/ and contacting the firm using the details on the register
- Report the matter to the FSA either by calling 0845 606 1234 or visiting
www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk
- If the calls persist, hang up.
If you deal with an unauthorised firm, you will not be eligible to receive payment under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. The FSA can be contacted by completing an online form at
www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/doing/regulated/law/alerts/overseas.shtml
Details of any share dealing facilities that the company endorses will be included in company mailings.
More detailed information on this or similar activity can be found on the CFEB website
www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk
