Distinguish a Hong Kong results announcement from an annual report
Use a results announcement for the statements it actually contains, and use the full annual report for the additional detail you need. Do not treat the two documents as interchangeable merely because they concern the same issuer and fiscal year. Choose the source according to the question and the information cutoff.
The HKEXnews search guide describes filtering documents by search parameters. Inspect the actual titles and files on HKEXnews, rather than assuming a result containing “annual” is the complete annual report. The pairing method below is a research convention.
Give each document a job
Create one row for the results announcement and another for the annual report. Record title, publication date, covered period, language, and version. Add a “question answered” field. This prevents the first document you find from becoming a universal citation for material it does not contain.
For a question about what the issuer announced on an earlier date, the earlier announcement is directly relevant. For a question requiring a detailed note or governance description, inspect the document that actually contains it. A later annual report may help, but it should not be silently inserted into a note meant to preserve the earlier information set.
Hypothetical pairing worksheet
Assume fictional East Basin Logistics publishes a results announcement, followed later by an annual report. The example does not specify a regulatory timetable and is not a real company case.
| Research question | Source to inspect | Evidence limit |
|---|---|---|
| What was announced on the first date? | Results announcement | Only its actual contents |
| Where is a detailed policy description? | Search the full report and relevant note | Do not assume it is absent until checked |
| Did wording change later? | Both documents side by side | Identify matching passage and scope |
| What was available at an earlier cutoff? | Documents released by that cutoff | Later report stays outside the snapshot |
Suppose the announcement contains a brief project statement and the annual report supplies more context. The current note can link both. The historical note should preserve the earlier wording and label the later clarification separately. More detail does not retroactively change what the first source contained.
Compare only genuinely corresponding passages
When checking changes, identify the same subject and time window before comparing words. A summary paragraph and a detailed note can differ in length without contradicting each other. Record whether the later text adds detail, changes wording, corrects an earlier statement, or leaves the relationship uncertain.
Do not infer correction merely because the numbers of pages differ or a phrase is missing from one document. Search the relevant sections and any correction notices. If you cannot find an explanation, describe the observed difference and avoid inventing a reason. The source can support “wording differs” even when it cannot support “management reversed its position.”
Verification and boundaries
Reopen each saved file and confirm the title and period on its cover. Check that the links are not two formats of one document. Then test each research claim against the specific file assigned to it. A claim should not inherit authority from a nearby citation to the other document.
This method does not rank all annual reports above all announcements for every task. Timeliness and detail answer different needs. Nor does a full report guarantee that every desired fact is publicly disclosed. Keep an explicit gap list when a question remains unanswered after checking both.
Common mistakes include treating an announcement as the full report, forgetting a later correction, and citing the annual report for a statement about earlier public availability. Another is counting two documents about one disclosure cycle as independent confirmation of issuer expectations. Preserve document role and claim status separately.
A final record check
A document-role note can prevent later confusion: state why each file was used and which question it was not used to answer. When more detailed material appears, review the existing gap list before expanding the note. This keeps the new reading purposeful and avoids replacing an earlier historical question with a different current-information task.
FAQ
Should I always wait for the annual report?
No. You can make a limited, clearly sourced note from the announcement and list the detail still to be checked when other documents become available.
Is extra detail in the annual report automatically a correction?
No. Compare the corresponding text and any explicit correction notice. Added detail, changed scope, and corrected information are different relationships.