(News Bulletin 247) – The authority accuses the group and its directors in particular of having published false or misleading information.

The sanctions commission of the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) announced on Tuesday that it had fined French drone manufacturer Parrot and two of its executives a total of 420,000 euros, in particular for having disseminated false or misleading information.

The AMF sanctions commission has decided to impose a penalty of 150,000 euros on Parrot for “failure to manipulate the market by disseminating false or misleading information” concerning “several financial indicators” published “in its 2018 half-yearly financial report”.

Two of the company’s directors, who were also convicted for this reason, were fined: Henri Seydoux will have to pay 60,000 euros and Gilles Labossière, who is also “penalized for insider trading”, will have to pay 210,000 euros.

“Inside information”

The board of the Financial Markets Authority (AMF), which is bringing the accusation, had requested a fine of 500,000 euros from Parrot, 200,000 euros from its director Henri Seydoux and 250,000 euros from financial director Gilles Labossière, during a session of the sanctions committee in May.

The latter noted that “Parrot had disseminated false or misleading information in its 2018 half-yearly financial report concerning several financial indicators”, according to a press release issued by the AMF.

The sanctions committee “clarified that the financial situation of the Drones activity was presented in a more positive way than it actually was”, specifies the AMF communication.

At the same time, as part of the project by Horizon, Henri Seydoux’s holding company, to carry out a takeover bid for Parrot shares, “the commission considered that Gilles Labossière, primary insider, had failed in his obligation to abstain from using this privileged information, by placing purchase orders for Parrot shares”.

(With AFP)