Price data revamp on hold

PLANS to revamp the system used by quoted companies to release price-sensitive information such as financial results have been delayed. Hopes that a new system would be up and running next month have been dashed and some of the potential new carriers have failed to meet service levels demanded by the City watchdog, the Financial Services Authority.

The Regulatory News Service, owned by the London Stock Exchange, has a monopoly on distributing information. Companies quoted on the main stock market pay a flat-rate fee of £3,400 a year, whatever their size. But last year the FSA said it wanted to create a free market of primary information providers (PIPs) to compete to carry quoted company announcements.

PIPs would charge listed companies for the service and sell content to financial information groups Reuters and Bloomberg and financial websites. In November, the FSA announced that eight companies had declared an interest in becoming PIPs, but last week said that only five had met the required standards of security and reliability.

Potential PIPs include the London Stock Exchange, financial news providers Business Wire and PR Newswire, and media information firm PIMS. The FSA's lengthy assessment of the companies has delayed the planned launch.

A spokesman said: 'We hoped to have the system in operation at the start of February, but it now looks as if it will be March.'