A.C.L.N.'s Ship Doesn't Come In
By Herb Greenberg
Senior Columnist
12/18/2001 11:34 AM EST
To listen to the message-board buzz among holders of A.C.L.N. (ASW:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), a car shipping and logistics company that was the focus of a column here Friday, the big news from the company was supposed to be the announcement of a deal to buy three ships with the help of $150 million in financing from J.P. Morgan. The news was supposedly coming any day.
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Yet when the news came Monday, after the company halted trading of its stock, it was anything but what promoters had been expecting. And it was anything but new.
Instead of reporting a big purchase of ships, with the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval from Morgan -- and its due diligence -- A.C.L.N. announced something it had mentioned at the tail end of an earnings conference call last month: that it was taking a $7.5 million writeoff after canceling a ship construction contract. Why did the company wait until now to formally announce it?
That's hard to say, because neither the company's CFO nor its investor relations representative returned my calls. (The investor relations rep's name wasn't even on the company's telephone directory, even though she was named as the contact on the press release.)
But what's just as interesting is that while announcing the contract's cancellation, A.C.L.N. did say it's planning to increase the number of vessels it owns, or in which it has an interest -- either to use in its logistics business "or to start a third business segment." Third business segment? Always a red flag: When all else fails, start changing the story.
And there was no mention of the much-rumored purchase of three ships, which was reported in several trade publications. Stories in those publications, which were widely circulated last week, helped boost the price of A.C.L.N.'s stock. Tuesday morning, the stock fell $2.81 to $27.94.
Yet A.C.L.N. has been mute on the supposed deal, possibly violating rules of the New York Stock Exchange, which lists A.C.L.N. shares. In its press release Monday, the company said it "is committed to making announcements of material developments and will continue to do so when it is merited. Otherwise, the Company has a policy of not issuing comment."
But according to the NYSE listing manual, "If rumors or unusual market activity indicate the information on impending developments has leaked out, a frank and explicit announcement is clearly required. If rumors are in fact false or inaccurate, they should be promptly denied or clarified." The NYSE declined to comment.
Maybe this is what happens when the company's CFO is in one part of the world (Los Angeles), its attorneys are in a second (Cyprus), its headquarters is in a third (Belgium), and it does business in yet another (Africa). |
