I never understand why companies delay bad news - they must...

I never understand why companies delay bad news - they must really think they will be better off by doing so - however the market will react accordingly whether its today, tomorrow or next week when the news eventually gets out - all it does in the meatime is cause unnecessary speculation (so probably an over-reaction to the downside) and inevitably management get tarnished by not having been upfront in the first place, causing a loss of goodwill and the market also prices according to doing what they say they're going to do - even if its just an announcement to say sorry folks, another delay.

Cheers, Sharks.