Vienna Stock Exchange scraps requirement for quarterly earnings reports

(Adds European context, companies' reactions)

VIENNA, Feb 22 (Reuters) - The Vienna Stock Exchange cut minimum reporting requirements on Friday for its biggest listed companies to every six months from quarterly, making use of a European directive to accommodate companies' calls for a reduced administrative burden.

The decision takes effect immediately and applies to 37 companies including those 20 listed in the exchange's blue-chip ATX index, such as oil company OMV, steelmaker Voestalpine and lender Erste Group.

Companies are free to keep reporting every quarter if they choose to. "Together with their investors, companies know best what information is required in their industry and which reporting frequency is the most useful, especially in seasonal sectors and for cyclical business models," the exchange said.

The European Union's transparency directive requires listed companies to publish yearly and half-yearly reports, major changes in the holding of voting rights and ad hoc inside information that could affect the price of securities.

Euronext, which operates bourses in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, London, Lisbon and Dublin, the London Stock Exchange and the Swiss Stock Exchange also let their listed companies choose whether to issue quarterly results, the Austrian market operator's statement said.

Germany's Deutsche Boerse requires the companies in its most regulated segment to publish at least an interim statement every quarter. That includes companies listed in the blue-chip index Dax, the midcap index MDAX and the smallcap index SDAX.

Austria's largest listed company, oil and gas group OMV, as well as lender Raiffeisen Bank International, flagship telecoms group A1 Telekom Austria and the country's largest utility Verbund said they would still publish quarterly reports for the time being.

Erste Group said it would communicate how to deal with the new rule after the publication of its full-year results. A Voestalpine spokesman said the group still had to discuss the issue. (Reporting by Francois Murphy, Kirsti Knolle in VIENNA, additional reporting by Hans Seidenstuecker in FRANKFURT Editing by David Holmes and Keith Weir)