SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, a national investor-rights law firm, reminds investors there is a pending securities fraud class action lawsuit against Cnova N.V. (NASDAQ:CNV) related to admitted accounting discrepancies, and alerts them that there is a March 21, 2016 lead plaintiff deadline.
If you suffered losses because of your purchases of Cnova securities between November 16, 2014 and December 18, 2015, or have information that will help in our ongoing investigation, contact Hagens Berman Partner Reed Kathrein, who is leading the firm’s investigation by calling 510-725-3000, emailing CNV@hbsslaw.com or visiting https://www.hbsslaw.com/cases/CNV. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and investors have until March 21, 2016 to move the court to participate as a lead plaintiff.
On January 29, 2015, Cnova disclosed that its Brazilian operations were in the midst of a marked slowdown. On January 30, 2015, a Deutsche Bank analyst stated that Cnova's fourth quarter gross profit and EBITDA missed its estimates by 5% and 33%. On this news, Cnova stock fell from $7.37 to $5.50 per share, or over 25%, over the course of two days. Then, on December 18, 2015, Cnova announced that the company's Board of Directors engaged legal advisors and external forensic accountants to perform a review of issues in connection with employee misconduct related to inventory management issues, predominantly in Brazil. On this news, Cnova’s stock fell $0.53, or nearly 18%, to close at $2.42 per share on December 21, 2015. The stock has not recovered, and is currently trading at $2.24 per share.
The complaint alleges that Cnova's November 20, 2014 Registration Statement failed to disclose that the Company’s operations were in the midst of a serious slowdown and that the Company's Brazil operations lacked sufficient controls, specifically, the handling of product returns and damaged product inventory at Cnova's Brazilian distribution centers. To the contrary, the Registration Statement stressed the Company’s strength in Brazil, and emphasized the Company’s increased market share and profitability in the Brazilian market. Cnova successfully raised approximately $188 million in its IPO, collectively selling 26.8 million shares at $7.00 per share.
Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding Cnova should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new SEC whistleblower program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 510-725-3000 or email CNV@hbsslaw.com.
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