Experienced investors know that newly breaking corporate news is an important driver of share prices. For this reason, it makes good sense to keep on top of all fresh corporate news.
One category of corporate announcements especially worth monitoring is "regulatory news". Companies are required by the London Stock Exchange to promptly provide investors with market sensitive information. Included within this category are interim results, trading statements and advance notice of all upcoming announcements.
Access to this kind of information is often a problem for private investors, especially those who trade in the smaller company arena. The news media typically focus on large companies. Smaller companies, often viewed by editors as less newsworthy, get lost in the shuffle.
The London Stock Exchange web site offers a free solution to this problem. It provides immediate access to every corporate announcement The following shortcut will get you to the right page: http://www.londonstockexchange.co.uk/en-gb/pricesnews/marketnews/
My starting point is to click on the dropdown button next to "Index" on the lower half of the screen for a list of all LSE market segments. Since I often trade in the smaller company arena, I select the FTSE Fledgling or FTSE SmallCap option. This produces a list of all companies in each segment that made announcements that day.
This is my favourite page on the entire LSE website. I personally visit it each trading day, especially a few minutes after 7:00am when many reports are released. I tend to concentrate on regulatory releases and ignore the superficial analysis provided by some news feeds linked to this page.
Accessing information is only half of the job. The other half is using the data to your advantage. Imagination and forward thinking are often key.
A good example occurs whenever I see a fresh announcement that a company will soon report its preliminary results. If I am unfamiliar with this company, I use the search option on the above-mentioned page to seek out all regulatory announcements from this company for the past few years and read though them.
I look for hidden gems such as a poor performer whose most recent statement suggested that a turn-around is in progress.
Here is another way to use the information. Should a fresh earnings report or interim statement suggest a sudden improvement in company fortunes, I seek out other companies in the same industry who have not yet reported any recent results.
The LSE web site provides useful information in this area as well. Log on to the following link which lists all public companies. The list allows you to sub-divide companies by sector and size. It is quite useful to me
http://www.londonstockexchange.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/569BD2AB-DE1D-4D41-B164-E34E6F257C2A/0/LISTDATE0805.XLS
I use this kind of information to identify other companies that might also be on the verge of surprising investors with good news.
One of the best aspects of the LSE website is the very efficient help link if you need advice about how to locate certain information. Click on the "help" option on the top right of the screen. The follow-up page offers a number of options including a link to a help desk at the LSE. They usually respond quite quickly.