Re: 11/27/01 - [SXT] Sensient Technologies files suit against Yahoo posters
Shareholders and Employees of SXT
by: shareholders_of_sxt 11/27/01 04:28 pm
Msg: 283 of 286
On behalf of Sensient Technologies, we wish to advise "debin23" and anyone else acting in concert with him (as well as those simply having read debin23's recent postings concening the Company and its management) that debin23's statements are defamatory, libelous and untrue. Because such statements have caused, and may continue to cause, injury to the company and its shareholders, Sensient has filed a lawsuit in a court of competent jurisdiction alleging that debin23 alone and/or on behalf of others is guilty of (1) trade libel and defamation, (2) intentional tortious interference with prospective economic advantage, and (3) unfair competition, and that (4) debin23 has conspired with others who are aiding and abetting debin23's tortious conduct. Sensient will not allow such untrue allegations of theft, criminal conduct, and the like to continue or to do further injury.
Sensient has undertaken efforts to discern the true identity of debin23 so that debin23 and debin23's cohorts can be held accountable for their actions and made to pay compensatory and punitive damages. Additionally, Sensient demands reimbursement of the costs of the suit, including costs and fees associated with discerning debin23's true identity. To avoid any unnecessary expenditure and to move more quickly to the merits, Sensient makes this posting to put debin23 on notice of the existence of the suit and suggests that debin23 or debin23's counsel contact Sensient's counsel, James P. Flynn, Epstein Becker & Green, Gateway Center Two, Newark, New Jersey 07102, phone number 973-642-1900 to facilitate debin23's prompt receipt of this complaint. To the extent that debin23 refuses to make such contact or otherwise reveal debin23's true identity, Sensient will avail itself of other means of discovering that information and will hold debin23 responsible for the associated fees and costs.
In the name of the shareholders and
employees of SXT
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Re: Shareholders and Employees of SXT
by: weyyes 11/27/01 05:59 pm
Msg: 284 of 286
It is clear from the defamatory remarks made against debin by this poster that he will be filing a counterclaim to recover damages to his reputation for telling the truth and for the libelious accusations made in the referenced post. Keep up the good work debin. The truth will set sxt free.
Posted as a reply to: Msg 283 by shareholders_of_sxt
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Re: Shareholders and Employees of SXT
by: debin23 11/28/01 07:09 am
Msg: 285 of 286
You are a fool. I have given my opinion regarding the management of this company. There is absolutely nothing libelous and defamatory in what I have said. And if you have the ridiculous, misguided idea that whatever I have said in this message board has caused injury to the company and its shareholders, you have a real problem. Take your ridiculous bullying elsewhere.
Posted as a reply to: Msg 283 by shareholders_of_sxt
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My two cents
by: monk60000 11/28/01 01:16 pm
Msg: 286 of 286
I have read these messages boards from time to time and never felt the need to comment until now. Let me first say that I am an employee at Sensient. I enjoy my job. I like working here.
While I think everyone agrees that they wish the stock price were higher, I disagree with some of the postings here. In my opinion, the role of the CEO is to set the strategy. Since Mr. Manning has taken over I have noticed three things in this regard, 1) We have sold off divisions with low margin, commodity type products, like yeast, 2) We have expanded our company outside of the US, and 3) We have started to get into non-food related industries. (The food industry has a growth rate of 5% or less per year.) The colors for inks are a primamry example of this change. These changes are good and I believe that the company is better situated today to meet the challenges it faces than it was five years ago.
Furthermore, I believe that it is part of the CEO's duty to ensure the long term health and stability of the company. Setting a proper strategy as outlined above is one way. Another is to not sell the company, as suggested by some of these posts, to the highest bidder for a quick profit. The CEO's job is to build the company, not destroy it.
The change in strategy, as well as the name change, repositions the company for the future. It does not happen over night. A lot of communication is required and the message must get out about what is happening internally. I agree, there is a lot of potential in this company and I think it is under valued. Hopefully, the analysts will begin to understand where the company is headed.
Finally, speaking of analysts, some of the posts stated that they believe that Mr. Manning has angered some of the analysts. I do not know if this is true or not, but I hope that the analysts base their reports on facts and logic and not emotion. If it is emotion driven, then I wonder if they are a credible source. (There also seems to be a lot of emotion on this message board.)
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shareholder's speak up!
by: tenacity65 11/26/01 01:50 pm
Msg: 276 of 286
Check out the article on Manning and Sensient at WWW.jsonline.com 11/25/01 edition. Got news for you shareholders. You need to speak up and put pressure on the BOD if you want things to change. Isn't the shareholder meeting coming up? State your complaints in person in front of the BOD they are all at the meeting. You have the BOD names and places of business in the annual report, start writing some letters. Although quite a few board members have been put there by Manning there are a few old ones who could shake things up.
Noone likes to be embarrassed and I would say that the article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal was pretty embarrassing.
Another thing, the likelihood of anyone buying this company is probably slim because allegedly Manning personally has such a ridiculously high poison pill that potential buyers can't afford it. This is what my sources at Kerry say, but perhaps someone at Sensient could confirm or deny this. In any event, I wouldn't bet on any sales as long as Manning is around. In my opinion, time to cut the head off this snake.
Debin23 you crack me up and how right you are so much of the time. Now you just need a solution to save this company and/or your share value. This was a wonderful company about 10 years ago and the businesses themselves are undervalued in the market today. Don't be disuaded by the corporate drone who is probably paid to write responses to your messages. The drone is in all likelihood very unhappy.
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Re: shareholder's speak up!
by: debin23 11/26/01 05:44 pm
Msg: 277 of 286
Sensient gets attention from analysts, and it's not good
By KATHLEEN GALLAGHER
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: Nov. 24, 2001
Be careful what you wish for.
Four years ago, Sensient Technologies Inc. top executive Kenneth P. Manning was lobbying Wall Street analysts to cover his company.
Now, after Sensient has missed those analysts' earnings estimates for the last five quarters in a row, Manning is saying they don't get it.
"The analysts don't understand our new business at all," Manning says. "I really kind of wish they spent a little more time on the company."
Manning's skirmishes with analysts began escalated in October after Sensient failed to meet third-quarter earnings expectations. Now analysts are not only questioning management's earnings guidance for 2001, but its entire strategy for the company.
Analysts at all four firms that follow Sensient either declined to comment or didn't return a reporter's phone calls last week. But their notes to institutional investors, distributed through First Call, tell their side of the story.
Prudential Securities food industry analysts are saying they believe shareholders would be best served if the company put itself up for sale.
"But we see no chance of this happening to (Sensient) shareholders any time soon as long as management continues to 'execute on its business plan' and its board continues to be satisfied waiting around for results," John M. McMillin and Jeffrey G. Kanter wrote in a recent update.
Manning says the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks hurt third-quarter earnings. Plus, his company has been in a transition that took a lot of management time and energy. It began in 2000, culminated in the sale of its Red Star yeast division in February, and is just now ending, he says.
Manning's business plan hinges on his belief Sensient is now well-positioned to take advantage of the growth potential in its non-food areas. Those areas - colors, flavors and fragrances for cosmetics, specialty inks, highly purified dyes, and fragrances for household products - contribute about 30% of revenue.
"The real problem is, we've gone through a transition, and (the analysts) haven't followed closely enough to see what we're becoming," Manning says.
Company departures
Sensient, formerly known as Universal Foods, has had a lot of high-level departures, too. Two senior-level executives left the company this year: Michael DuBois, who was president of the flavors and fragrances division; and Steve Martin, a vice president and group executive of the color and flavor group.
Other executives who have left in the last two years are: Michael Fung, chief financial officer; Patrick Bartling, vice president and group executive in the natural products area; Michael Wick, president of the color group; and James Palo, president of the dehydrated products division.
The only one of those departures the company told shareholders about was Fung's. Sensient wasn't required to announce the other departures, Manning says.
Since Manning became the company's chief executive officer in 1996, Sensient has provided shareholders with a paltry 0.77% average annual return through Oct. 31. The S&P Midcap food/beverages index has returned 4.36% during the same period.
Sensient's vice president of administration, Steve Cordier, says those numbers look a lot better if you drop October. The average annual return is 3.61% through September vs. 4.96% for the S&P Midcap food/beverages index.
But why would you drop out the month when the company reported earnings?
Posted as a reply to: Msg 276 by tenacity65
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Part 2
by: debin23 11/26/01 05:46 pm
Msg: 278 of 286
Analyst clash
After Sensient reported disappointing earnings in late October, all four of its analysts disputed management's 2001 earnings guidance in notes to institutional investors.
Management's suggestion that the company will be able to produce about $1.37 a share for 2001 "seems very optimistic" because it would require Sensient to increase fourth-quarter earnings 65% over last year's fourth-quarter numbers, wrote William Leach of Banc of America Securities.
Manning has blocked Leach from asking questions during their last three conference calls after the analyst in February accused the company of misleading investors about its fourth-quarter results.
"He tends to be kind of theatrical," Manning said. "He just seems to want to trash your meeting. We're available to him any time he wants to talk to us, but we're not going to let him put on a vaudeville act during the call."
The other analysts who cover Sensient are Terry Bivens at Bear Sterns & Co. and Christopher R. Growe at A.G. Edwards Inc.
Manning has told investors his company is outperforming the Standard & Poor's 500 index year-to-date.
"But give us a break, (Sensient's) stock is selling at the same price as it was in 1990-1991," McMillin and Kanter wrote. "The bottom line is this company hasn't outperformed anybody for years."
Seeing value
Analysts say they're frustrated because they see much more value in Sensient, particularly in the color division, than the market is putting on it. Yet they expect Sensient to fuel earnings growth over the next two years with about $20 million in savings from layoffs, plant closings and consolidating activities, not organically.
"We have been following Sensient long enough to know that there is an easy $30 per share worth of value in the name," McMillin and Kanter wrote.
Manning says the analysts aren't in any position to tell him how that value should be extracted.
"One got furious because, in a conference call, I said I wouldn't sell the company. I will always do what's good for shareholders, but when you're asking me that question in front of the mayor of the City of Milwaukee, it's difficult," he says.
Manning said he believes Wall Street analysts have a "little credibility problem after the dot-com debacle," and says many of Sensient's major shareholders don't even read their reports.
"The company is totally repositioned, and I'm a believer," Manning said.
Unfortunately for Manning and his board, none of the Wall Street analysts who follow his company share that sentiment.
Posted as a reply to: Msg 277 by debin23
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BOD asleep at the switch
by: debin23 11/27/01 06:04 am
Msg: 279 of 286
I have no love for analysts, and couldn't care less about their opinions of SXT. Their intellectual laziness and dishonesty leads them to rely on company guidance, and then they get pissed at the company when it doesn't perform. That's analysis?
That being said, nobody needs an analyst to see that management is in dreamland. Top managers are leaving in droves, the stock hasn't moved in 10 years, the continual "repositioning" has been a disaster, and our CEO's response is to ban an analyst from asking questions during their last 3 CC's because he asks the questions that management can't answer? Our CEO wants to be surrounded by "yes men", not by thinking, agressive managers who have shareholders' interests at heart, instead of their own.
Loved this line: >>Prudential Securites food industry analysts are saying they believe shareholders would be best served if the company put itself up for sale. "But we see no chance of this happening to SXT shareholders any time soon as long as management continues to 'execute on its business plan' and its board continues to be satisfied waiting around for results...<<
My beef goes beyond Manning. He'll keep doing what he's doing as long as he can get away with it. However, this BOD is reckless in its total disregard for the shareholders of this company.
Gabelli, get to work.
Posted as a reply to: Msg 278 by debin23
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A different perspective
by: regandyuck00 11/27/01 10:44 am
Msg: 280 of 286
What puzzles me the most about many of the comments posted on this board is why these angry individuals continue to hold on to their stock. If these people have uncovered the secrets as to why Sensient stock prices have dropped, i.e. theories of entrenched management and a host of other ad hominem attacks on management, then why don't you sell? What compels you to continually post messages and complain about stock that you don't have to own? That does not appear to be particularly logical. Sell your stock and use your financial insight to invest elsewhere.
Alternatively, I consider Sensient to be in a transition phase with a lot of potential. With the sale of Red Star Yeast, it is fairly clear that sales have declined. I think that we can all agree on this point. But let us not forget that the stock has been undervalued for years. This is why they are ripe for acquisition. If the company was as screwed up as you are saying, I am not sure there would be as much talk about acquisition.
I think that people also need to consider this stock price thing. I have owned stock in the company for about ten years. I have been reading comments that the stock is the same price as 1990/1. Well interestingly enough that may be true, but could it be at all related to the stock splitting? When the stock spilt, I received twice the number of shares that I originally bought. That does not seem to be that bad to me.
But this is just my opinion, and my explanation for keeping my stock. Please don't start swearing and calling me a fool. I am an older man and would ask for some respect. If you disagree, please tell me why nicely.
Thank you,
Reggie
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Re: A different perspective
by: debin23 11/27/01 11:21 am
Msg: 281 of 286
First of all, you need to understand that when we say the stock price has gone nowhere in ten years, we mean it. Any stock chart you look at takes into account all splits. That means that split adjusted, your investment has been dead money for 10 years. Please try to understand this, because it is very important.
Secondly, if I didn't think that this company had value, I would have sold the stock long ago. That is the problem: There is value here that the current management does not know how to tap. Stocks don't remain undervalued for years for no reason. Why should I sell my stock at a loss and move on? I want Manning and his BOD buddies to move on, and hand these assets over to a group that can do something with them.
You don't seem to understand that because of current management's ability to entrench themselves here, they are not necessarily "ripe for acquistion". These guys are going to make it tough (read "expensive") for anybody to buy the company, because they want to keep their jobs. And why wouldn't they? They keep getting paid nice salaries, stock options and other bennies for lousy performance. Do you get that kind of treatment at your job?
Posted as a reply to: Msg 280 by regandyuck00
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reggie, hello planet earth calling
by: tenacity65 11/27/01 02:02 pm
Msg: 282 of 286
We are all entitled to an opinion but frankly you are off base when you tell us shareholders to stop complaining and sell our stock. Some of us bought this stock prior to the current management and as debin23 says why should we sell it at a loss. OR why should the employees be stuck with worthless ESOP shares.
Can you honestly read the Journal sentinal article that debin23 posted and tell me that the company is currently being well run when they can't even manage to avoid alienating the stock analysts? I'm no great fan of analysts either but as a CEO it would be completely idiotic to make them angry. How is that helping your stock price? How is that benefiting your shareholders? Love to hear your response as a older, wiser investor of this stock.
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