Spirent Communications is dropping its New York listing because of the high costs of meeting the Sarbanes Oxley regulations on corporate governance.

The communications technology company said in a statement: “The US listing has become significantly more costly and onerous in recent years, not least due to the imposition of the Sarbanes Oxley regulations.”

The New York listing costs £3m a year which Spirent believes is “disproportionate to the actual or potential benefit in maintaining the US listing”. Spirent will maintain its London listing.

The Sarbanes Oxley regulations were introduced after the collapse of Enron in 2001 in a bid to improve corporate governance.

However, many businesses have complained that the regulations are too time-consuming and costly. Spirent plans to return an additional £50m to shareholders on top of its current £50m buyback programme.

[1] Telegraph.co.uk: Spirent scraps New York listing