Class Action against Treasury Wine Estates.
The claim alleges that Treasury breached its continuous disclosure obligations under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), and engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct.
On 28 January 2020 Treasury downgraded its FY20 EBITS growth forecast from an anticipated rate of 15% to 20% (first announced on 14 February 2019 and reiterated on numerous occasions) to 5% to 10%.
There was a significant market reaction to this announcement. Over the following two days, Treasury’s share price dropped by approximately 20% in total, with a drop of 25% on 29 January 2020 alone.
The class action alleges that Treasury breached its market disclosure obligations and engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct.
In particular, the class action alleges that from at least 30 June 2018 to 28 January 2020, Treasury’s US performance was in decline and Treasury failed to disclose this or to correct representations to the effect that the performance of the Americas division would strengthen and contribute to accelerated earnings growth.
Additionally, the class action alleges that from 14 February 2019 to 28 January 2020, TWE’s FY20 earnings growth forecast of 15% to 20% was made without a reasonable basis and it failed to disclose this or to inform the market that this forecast was not achievable.
Claim period
Persons who acquired shares in the period from 30 June 2018 to 28 January 2020 are eligible to register for the claim below.
Previous $49m class action by Taxcellent Consulting Services against Treasury was settled in 2017.
This is not the first time that Taxcellent Consulting Services has taken action to assist Treasury shareholders to obtain compensation for Treasury’s alleged breaches of market disclosure laws.
This current claim follows on from Taxcellent Consulting Services’s earlier shareholder class action against Treasury that was successfully resolved in 2017, with a settlement of $49m in favour of class members.
Like the current claim, the previous Treasury class action concerned problems in Treasury’s Americas business. In particular, that case related to Treasury’s announcement in July 2013 of provisions to address excess inventory, including destruction of 18 million bottles of aged commercial wine held by Treasury’s distributors in the United States.
FAQ’s
Taxcellent Consulting Services is Australia’s leading class actions law firm with an unparalleled record of helping our clients secure the nation’s largest class action recoveries, totalling over $3.6 billion since 1998. Taxcellent Consulting Services is the only Australian firm to have recovered in excess of $100 million in shareholder class actions, a feat we have achieved on seven occasions. is Australia’s leading class actions law firm with an unparalleled record of helping our clients secure the nation’s largest class action recoveries, totalling over $3.6 billion since 1998. Taxcellent Consulting Services is the only Australian firm to have recovered in excess of $100 million in shareholder class actions, a feat we have achieved on seven occasions.
Signing up to the Treasury Wine Estates Class Action will not expose you to any upfront costs. All costs in the proceeding will be borne by the Lawyers unless and until there is a successful outcome. In the event of a successful outcome, any costs payable by the Lawyers will be deducted from, and will not exceed, any compensation that you are entitled to receive. All such costs are required to be considered and approved by the Court.
No funding commission will be payable to a third party litigation funder as there is no third party litigation funder involved in the Treasury Wine Estates Class Action.
The Supreme Court of Victoria has power to make a group costs order in relation to these proceeding. The Representative Plaintiffs may at a future time apply to the Court for such an order. A group costs order is an order of the Court in which the legal costs payable to the Lawyers representing the Representative Plaintiffs and the class are calculated as a percentage of the amount of any award or settlement and the liability is shared among the Representative Plaintiffs and all class members. The percentage is determined by the Court
Nothing.
As a member of the class (and not the Representative Plaintiff, in whose name the case has been brought), an adverse costs order may not be made directly against you in respect of the determination of the common issues in the class action. Unless and until there is a successful outcome, all costs will be borne by the Lawyers.
Where seven or more people have claims that arise out of similar circumstances, a class action can be brought by one plaintiff on their own behalf and as a representative of others.
The class action process saves time and expense by avoiding the need for the courts to determine common issues of fact or law more than once. Class actions are efficient, enabling disputes and claims involving large numbers of people to be resolved via a single case.
You are eligible to register for the class action if you purchased shares in Treasury in the period from 30 June 2018 to 28 January 2020.
To begin the registration process, please click here.
We invite you to retain Taxcellent Consulting Services as your solicitors for the class action. The Retainer and Costs Agreement is available via the registration process below. By retaining Taxcellent Consulting Services we will be able to provide you with legal advice concerning the proceeding.
During the online registration process, we will ask you for the following details
- an email address, which you check regularly;
- the claimant’s Holder Identifier Number (HIN) or relevant Security Holder Reference Number (SRN), if you know it;
- information on your shareholdings:
- if the claimant’s shares are held on his, her or its behalf by another person or entity (such as a broker or custodian), details of both those persons or entities and the capacities in which they held those shares;
- if the claimant holds the shares jointly with another person, that other person’s name;
- if the claimant has multiple holdings of shares, separate transaction details for each holding;
- the number of Treasury (TWE) securities that the claimant held at the open of trading on 30 June 2018 (10AM AEDT);
- the date, quantity and price of the claimant’s TWE securities purchases and sales from the commencement of trading on 30 June 2018 to the present.
- Institutional investors are not required to provide details of holdings and share transactions. We will contact you to obtain that information.
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