Feltex (FTX) - All over for shareholders

[minimoke]

Seems the feltex five have deluded themselves into thinking they're blameless ... Compo? Its the shareholders that need compo. Not the directors that took their fees for a job very, very, very poorly performed.

Doesn't look like the courts agree. The directors have just been given $952,000 as one of the biggest ever awards for costs. Thankfully MED has some balls and they are appealing the decision. At best, though it will just be a reduction in costs. At worst it will be the $952k in costs plus costs of the appeal hearing.

[Marilyn Munroe]

The judgement in this case means that if the directors have taken professional advise of whatever quality they can behave with deliberate carelessness.

I support the appeal of this decision and if the courts are unable to rule against the actions of the directors then the matter be refereed to to the legislature so the law can be amended.

Boop boop de do

Marilyn

[minimoke]

The judgement in this case means that if the directors have taken professional advise of whatever quality they can behave with deliberate carelessness.

I support the appeal of this decision and if the courts are unable to rule against the actions of the directors then the matter be refereed to to the legislature so the law can be amended.

Boop boop de do

Marilyn

MM As i understand it there is o appeal about the not guilty decision - its is an appeal over the amount of costs awarded to these reckless destroyers of wealth.

[metro]

Hey Paper Tiger

thanks for welcoming me back! Was going through some old posts and came across this beauty. At the time I think FTX were trading at 164.

Disc: Post made in good humour. Ive made my fair share of mistakes over the years NZO, PRC, NZO, NZO again, NZO again. Hmm I see a pattern here. Some people never learn.

Ahem to that, Lawso.

I really believe that the market is under-rating this company, a view that has strengthened with time. Hopefully one day the rest of the world will come round to this view .
Sam & Co, I believe are really on the ball and are willing to make the necessary decisions and investments to enhance the turnover and profit of Feltex.

[Balance]

Justice for shareholders could be on the way?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=10849565

Feltex directors fail in bid to stop class action
6:13 PM Friday Nov 23, 2012

Attempts by the former directors of the failed carpet-maker Feltex to halt a class action by 2852 shareholders who lost $250 million have been thrown out by the Court of Appeal.

All five appeals against the class action started by Feltex shareholder Eric Houghton were rejected in a judgment issued by the court today, clearing the way for the class action seeking repayment of shareholders' original investment to proceed.

Feltex made an initial public offering of shares in mid-2004 and by December 2006 was in liquidation with all shareholders' funds lost.

Shareholders are alleging Fair Trading Act and Securities Act breaches, negligence, dishonesty and deception, although claims of breaches of fiduciary duty have been struck out in earlier appeals.

Former Feltex directors named in the action are its chairman and one-time Contact Energy director Tim Saunders, current MightyRiverPower and Auckland International Airport chair Joan Withers, Feltex's then chief financial officer, Sam Magill, and directors John Feeney, Craig Horrocks, Peter Hunter, and then chief executive Peter Thomas.

The appeals fell broadly into three categories: the way the case was being managed should not be allowed; statute of limitation rules should prevent shareholders seeking redress; and that some claims were not sufficiently made out to pass tests of arguability.

Counsel for the Feltex directors objected to the way in which the courts allowed Tony Gavigan, a former Fay Richwhite investment banker who has undertaken to organise case management, time to source guaranteed funding of at least $200,000 to meet court costs in the event the shareholders' action failed.

They also objected to Gavigan's conduct in the proceedings, including delays and missed deadlines, which a previous appeal court decision had found were more the product of "an excess of enthusiasm rather than bad faith.''

"What was critical was securing Mr Houghton's access to justice through appropriate funding arrangements. That objective has now been satisfied,'' Court of Appeal president Mark O'Regan and fellow judges Tony Randerson and Rhys Harrison ruled.

On the complaints alleging Magill "engaged into manipulation'' of Feltex's earnings, the judges agreed the "evidence in support was not strong'', but that it "provided a sufficient factual foundation for arguability, involving as it does an element of deceit.''

"Mr Houghton is on notice that he has a significant hurdle to cross if he is to prove'' that Feltex had engaged in so-called "channel-stuffing'', where goods in excess of those ordered had been sent to customers to boost reported revenue, along with alleged attempts to shift the timing of receipts.

"But for now, the action must remain,'' the court ruled.

Apparent conflicts between rulings in other Commonwealth jurisdictions were also rejected as grounds for appeal, with the judges siding with Australian judgments that justified the class action moving forward, rather than a "narrow'' English ruling on statutes of limitation.

The appellants were, in effect, arguing for an unmanageable and wasteful exercise in which as many as 6,000 separate causes of action would be required, rather than a single class action, the judges said.

Reduced to its essential elements, this element of the appeals related to High Court rules intended to prevent "stale'' or "ancient'' claims being pursued, and the inability of defendants to mount adequate defences. These could not be held to apply in this case.

- BusinessDesk

[Balance]

https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/appeal...-suit-b-195353

No justice yet for shareholders yet - but shareholders done out of hundreds of millions of dollars could have a case now based upon the Fair Trading Act.

Well worth while reading.

Interesting that the directors, Credit Suisse and ForBar have kept quiet this time round about the COA decision.

Here's hoping that Judgement Day is coming for the deceitful behavior and actions of them.

[Balance]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=11827026

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU170...ve-hearing.htm

The battle for justice continues.

Let's hope that the shareholders of Feltex wins this very final battle in the war against deceitful behavior and greed (well documented now via the court case).

How the hell can Forsyth Barr get away with stuffing some of their clients' portfolios with this rubbish to get the IPO away, and for them to earn their multi-million dollar IPO fees?

Even more amazing how the promoters (Forsyth Barr and First NZ Capital) and vendors claimed the IPO to be 'fully' subscribed when some of sub-underwriting firms were left with stock which they dumped day 1 of IPO.

[Balance]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/947...-place-extract

Smart player - she bailed out after the first profit downgrade.

Well she should feel 'overwhelming sadness' at the loss suffered by Feltex shareholders - for as she well knows, the vast majority were mum and pop investors hoodwinked into the IPO by the lure of high dividends and the confidence in some of the board members - badly misplaced confidence.

Who can forget the 'There's some goodness left in the lemon but we squeezed most of it out. Not bad for a company that was bankrupt 18 months ago.'

Absolute disgrace that the court system fail to hold the directors to account for all the glossy representations made in the prospectus.

[Balance]

And despite what Joan Withers may think that the directors have been vindicated in the courts, there is still one more leg to go in this sorry saga of corporate greed and obscene disregard for basic ethics and decency - the Supreme Court hearing starting this month.

Anyone following the court case as it went through the High Court and Court of Appeal cannot help but observe the length to which the directors and company went through to hoodwink the market and shareholders.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=11848593

The law is a jackass.

[Balance]

And despite what Joan Withers may think that the directors have been vindicated in the courts, there is still one more leg to go in this sorry saga of corporate greed and obscene disregard for basic ethics and decency - the Supreme Court hearing starting this month.

Anyone following the court case as it went through the High Court and Court of Appeal cannot help but observe the length to which the directors and company went through to hoodwink the market and shareholders.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=11848593

The law is a jackass.

Supreme Court may have been reading this thread and realized that the law had been a jackass in the High Court?

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU180...prospectus.htm

Justice coming hopefully for the hoodwinked Feltex investors.