Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF)managed to emerge from a nasty, accusing lawsuit unscathed and this has led to an increase of 12% in its shares. The lawsuit held various allegations against the global nutrition company. A major accusation was that the company had been operating on an unlawful pyramid scheme. This led to a loss of money for many of its distributors and shareholders, who were made to believe that the company was operating on a legal basis.
However, the lawsuit was dismissed by US Judge Dale Fischer. Mr. Fischer claimed that there was no evidence in support of the allegation; or any evidence, to prove that any such actions have been taken by Herbalife Ltd.(NYSE:HLF), which would result into a loss for its investors. The Judge further said that the plaintiffs had been unable to prove the deceit of the company in light of the allegations put forward by Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management.
For the last two years Bill Ackman, along with his firm have been indulged in various campaigns against Herbalife Ltd.(NYSE:HLF). The conflict entrenched its roots in December 2012 by a presentation given by Bill Ackman. The goal of this presentation was to establish that HerbalifeLtd. (NYSE:HLF) operated on a pyramid scheme. Mr. Fischer denied all such allegations made by the shareholders and supported by two pension funds.
All of this led to various concerns being raised regarding the company’s unimpressive quarterly results, an investigation carried by US Federal Trade Commission and questions being sprouted by Bill Ackman and other hedge fund managers. These questions were supposed to be of a corrective disclosing nature so that ultimately they could unveil the company’s deceit towards its shareholders and investors.
In context of these corrective disclosures, the judge said in his ruling that, there is a possibility that some opinions, from amongst this hoard of opinions, might be based on facts if it indeed qualifies a corrective disclosure. However, if it is the case then that opinion ought to unveil something nebulous or actively hidden. Since it could do neither of these two things, therefore the allegations didn’t stand on any steady ground.
The main plaintiffs of the lawsuit were shareholders belonging to City of Atlanta Firefighters’ Pension Fund and the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System. Maya Saxena has been working as their advocate. She made a statement in which she asserted that they would be considering modification of their complaint.
As soon as the news of dismissal of lawsuit was made public, an immediate escalation is the stocks of HerbalifeLtd. (NYSE:HLF) was witnessed. The middle of the trading session of yesterday saw the shares rising to 9.4%, and by the time the session ended, they had risen to 12.6%. Understandably of course, the judge’s decision was celebrated by HerbalifeLtd. (NYSE:HLF). The company welcomed the decision of dismissal of the lawsuit and asserted its confidence in its business model. HerbalifeLtd. (NYSE:HLF)further claimed that the company’s crux was the improvement of nutrition so that people and ultimately entire communities could be benefited.
