What Is a Press Release and When Do Listed Companies Issue One?

26 Oct 2026

For an SGX-listed company, a press release is never only a public relations tool. At its simplest, it is an official written statement a company issues to share news with journalists and the public, with the aim of earning coverage through independent reporting rather than paid placement. Once a company is listed, that statement sits inside a regulatory framework that governs what can be said, when it can be said, and who is entitled to hear it first. Understanding how a press release differs from the formal announcements around it, and when SGX-listed companies reach for one, is the starting point for using it well.

What Is a Press Release?

A press release is a structured document, prepared by a company’s communications team and distributed to journalists, that presents a specific piece of news and invites them to cover it. The format is conventional for good reason. A headline states the news, a summary lead condenses it, the body sets out the detail, an executive quote adds perspective, and a boilerplate describes the company for readers who do not know it. Journalists reading dozens of releases a day rely on that structure. The press release meaning is often blurred with advertising, but the two work on different principles. Advertising buys space and controls the message. A press release pitches a story, and whether it becomes coverage depends entirely on whether an editor judges the news relevant to their readers. The same logic settles the familiar question of media alert versus press release. A media alert is a short advisory telling journalists who, what, when and where, typically to invite them to a results briefing or event. The press release carries the story itself.

The Press Release vs the SGXNet Announcement

The more consequential distinction for listed companies lies between the press release and the SGXNet announcement, which often carry the same news and are easily confused. The SGXNet announcement is a regulatory filing. Under the continuous disclosure obligations in Chapter 7 of the SGX Listing Rules, an issuer must announce material information (anything likely to affect the price or value of its securities) through SGXNet. That makes the announcement a compliance document first and a communications tool second. The press release does a different job. It takes the same information and shapes it into a story that financial journalists at publications such as The Business Times or The Edge Singapore can report, amplifying the SGXNet announcement without ever standing in for it. The sequence follows from this. The SGXNet announcement goes out first, and the press release follows. Material information released to the media before it reaches SGXNet can place the issuer in breach of its disclosure obligations. The same reasoning applies to the embargoed press release, common in consumer and technology PR, where journalists receive news early on the condition they hold it until a set time. For a listed company, sharing price-sensitive information under embargo is still sharing it selectively, and the safer practice is to release nothing material to the press until the market has it.

When Does a Listed Company Issue a Press Release?

Listed companies issue press releases when the news warrants attention beyond the regulatory filing, and the occasions are fairly consistent.

• Financial results are the most regular trigger. At half-year and full-year announcements, companies use the press release to turn the numbers into a narrative the financial press can report accurately.
• Corporate actions such as mergers, acquisitions, strategic partnerships and significant capital raises call for one, because they reshape the company’s investment profile.
• Leadership changes at board or C-suite level often merit a release, particularly where an appointment or departure signals a shift in strategy or governance.
• Business milestones, including major contract wins, market expansions and operational developments, earn coverage when they reinforce the equity story investors already hold.
• Crisis and sensitive events demand a controlled public response, in which managing the narrative in the press matters as much as meeting the regulatory obligation.

Not every SGXNet announcement deserves a press release. Companies that issue releases for routine filings tend to find editors reading fewer of them. Restraint is part of what gives the releases that matter their weight.

What a Press Release for a Listed Company Should Include

A listed company’s press release has to satisfy two readers at once: the journalist who wants clarity and the analyst or investor who wants precision. Five elements carry most of the weight.

• The headline captures the news in plain terms, without promotional adjectives.
• The lead paragraph states who, what and why it matters to the market, in no more than two sentences.
• Supporting context sets out the business rationale, the financial impact where relevant, and what the development means for company strategy.
• The executive quote adds perspective the facts cannot, rather than restating the headline in the first person.
• The boilerplate gives a concise, accurate description of the business for journalists covering the company for the first time.

Every factual claim in the release must match what has already been disclosed. A revenue figure rounded differently, or a deal value described more generously than in the SGXNet announcement, creates a compliance exposure as well as a credibility problem with the analysts who will read both documents side by side.

Strengthening Your Press Release Strategy with GEM COMM

A well-timed, well-written press release remains one of the more effective tools a listed company has for building financial media visibility and keeping investors familiar with the business between reporting cycles. Whether a release earns coverage or is filed and forgotten usually comes down to the judgement around it, from deciding which developments merit one to sequencing it correctly against the SGXNet announcement. For listed issuers, the test of any public relations firm in Singapore is whether it understands the disclosure framework as well as the newsroom. GEM COMM bridges companies and the investment community, and our public relations services combine financial writing with deep knowledge of Singapore’s financial media and SGX disclosure requirements. The work covers press release writing, media distribution, and the coordination of each release with the company’s SGXNet obligations and wider investor communications, so that the story told to journalists is the same one told to the market. Listed companies weighing how a more structured press release strategy could support their financial media presence can speak with our team whenever the timing suits.