Archive for January 6th, 2012
Veolia faces prospect of US class-action suit
Veolia, the struggling French water and waste group, and its top executives are facing the prospect of a US class-action lawsuit over allegations that they made “misleading” statements between 2007 and 2011 about its financial well-being.
The company, which is the world’s leading water services provider by sales and employs more than 315,000 people, said on Friday that a complaint had been filed against it in New York for violation of US federal securities laws.
More
On this story
On this topic
IN Utilities
It said that “any allegation that financial communications may have been misleading is without merit, and the company intends to seek the dismissal of the complaint”.
The lawsuit, filed on December 27, comes after the company unveiled two profit warnings last year, announced plans to quit half of the 77 countries where it does business and launched a €5bn ($6.4m) fire sale of assets.
Henri Proglio, the former chief executive of Veolia who now heads EDF, the French state-owned nuclear group, is named in the complaint alongside Antoine Frérot, his successor in the post. The company’s current and former finance directors, Pierre-François Riolacci and Thomas Piquemal, were also named.
The lawyers for the plaintiff, Barbara L McClay Trust, have 60 days to gather together other owners of US-listed Veolia shares in order to try to win class-action status from a US judge. Similar actions have been pursued in the past against companies such as Vivendi, the media and telecoms group.
The complaint filed by the lawyers alleges that Veolia broke US securities law by overstating financial results and had poor internal controls. It specifically alleges that the company failed to record in a timely manner an impairment charge for its transport business in Morocco, its environmental services business in Egypt, its marine services business in the US and its general business in southern Europe.
As a result, the suit claims the defendants “lacked a reasonable basis for their positive statements about the company and its prospects”.
On August 4 last year, Veolia said it was taking a €686m writedown related to its activities in Italy, the US and Morocco, leading first-half operating income to fall from €1.1bn in 2010 to €252m in 2011. The US shares fell $4.66, or 22 per cent, to $16.10 on the day of the statement.
Veolia, which also provides transport and energy services, said it had not yet been formally notified of the suit. The shares were the worst performer on France’s CAC 40 index last year, falling 60 per cent.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012. You may share using our article tools.
Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
View full post on Utilities company and industry news with expert analysis from the Financial Times
RotoMetrics opens new office in India
RotoMetrics, the narrow web industry’s leading rotary die manufacturer, has opened a new sales and liaison office in Mumbai, India.
Shaun Pullen, regional sales director, said: ‘Expanded local commercial and technical support allows us to react very quickly and to provide the highest levels of service in the industry.’ According to Pullen the new office reflects the company’s commitment to be the leading supplier of precision tooling to India’s growing printing and packaging industries.
Click here for more stories about RotoMetrics on L&L.com.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
View full post on Labels and Labeling – the wider world of narrow web – Labels and Labeling
