BALA CYNWYD, Pa., April 10, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- The following statement was issued today by the law firm of Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP:
Notice is hereby given that a class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of all purchasers of the common stock of Imperial Chemical Industries plc (NYSE:ICI) from August 1, 2002 through March 24, 2003, inclusive (the "Class Period").
If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP (Marc A. Topaz, Esq. or Stuart L. Berman, Esq.) toll free at 1-888-299-7706 or 1-610-667-7706, or via e-mail at info@sbclasslaw.com.
The complaint charges Imperial Chemical Industries PLC and certain of its officers and directors with issuing false and misleading statement concerning its business and financial condition.
Specifically, the complaint alleges that defendants issued numerous press releases in which they stated that they had resolved the Company's distribution and software problems that the Company had experienced at its Quest division's Fragrance & Food businesses. Defendants further stated that the Company was on track to report strong financial results, that the Company had cleared its backlog of customer orders and that the Company had not lost any customers as a result of its production problems.
The Complaint alleges that these statements were materially false and misleading because they failed to disclose and/or misrepresented the following adverse facts, among others: (a) that ICI's software, distribution and production problems at its Quest division were not "temporary" problems or "unique" to the Naarden, The Netherlands location, but impacted company-wide operations and profitability; (b) that ICI's software, distribution and production problems at its Quest division had not been "essentially" or "largely" "resolved" or "rectified"; and ( c) that contrary to ICI's representations that it had cleared its backlog of orders and not lost any customers as a result of the software, distribution and production problems at Quest, ICI's customers were, in fact, obtaining new sources of supply and discontinuing their relationships with ICI.
On March 25, 2003, before the open of trading, ICI shocked investors when it issued a profit warning with respect to its fiscal 2003 first quarter. Defendants announced that its first quarter profit would drop approximately 24%, as a result of, among other things, "business lost following the customer service problems in 2002." Following this announcement, shares of ICI fell from a close of $9.60 per share on March 24, 2003 to a close of $5.60 per share on March 25, 2003, or a single-day decline of more than 36%, on nearly twenty times normal trading volume.
Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of class members and is represented by the law firm of Schiffrin & Barroway, which prosecutes class actions in both state and federal courts throughout the country. Schiffrin & Barroway is a driving force behind corporate governance reform, and has recovered in excess of a billion dollars on behalf of institutional and high net worth individual investors. For more information about Schiffrin & Barroway, or to sign up to participate in this action online, please visit http://www.sbclasslaw.com/currentcases.cfm.
If you are a member of the class described above, you may, not later than June 9, 2003, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff of the class, if you so choose. In order to serve as lead plaintiff, however, you must meet certain legal requirements.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca