Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP Files Class Action Suit against Adient plc

Oct 04, 2018 08:30 pm
NEW YORK -- 

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP (http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/adient/) today announced that a class action has been commenced on behalf of purchasers of Adient plc (NYSE:ADNT) securities during the period between October 31, 2016 and June 11, 2018 (the “Class Period”). This action was filed in the Southern District of New York and is captioned Barreto v. Adient plc, et al., No. 18-cv-09116.

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits any investor who purchased Adient securities during the Class Period to seek appointment as lead plaintiff. A lead plaintiff acts on behalf of all other class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff can select a law firm of its choice. An investor’s ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff’s counsel, Samuel H. Rudman or David A. Rosenfeld of Robbins Geller at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via e-mail at [email protected]. You can view a copy of the complaint as filed at http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/adient/.

The complaint charges Adient and certain of its officers with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Adient designs, engineers, and manufactures automotive seating for all vehicle classes and all major original equipment manufacturers and is one of the largest global automotive seating suppliers in the world.

The complaint alleges that from the date of its formation, Adient and certain of its senior executives highlighted improvements in the efficiency of the Company’s capital-intensive metals business (a/k/a the SS&M business) as a key driver of its success. For example, defendants repeatedly emphasized to investors that the Company was “solidly on track” to deliver 200-basis-point margin expansion by 2020, which was dependent in large part on operational and financial improvements in Adient’s core SS&M business. This statement and others were materially false and misleading, omitted information reasonable investors would consider important, and/or lacked a reasonable basis because, unbeknownst to investors, Adient’s core SS&M business faced significant operational problems such that the repeatedly touted 200-basis-point margin expansion was not “on track” at any point during the Class Period. As a result of defendants’ false statements and/or omissions, Adient securities traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period, with its share price reaching a high of $85.93 per share.

On January 17, 2018, defendants disclosed that Adient’s “near-term results [were] being significantly impacted by SS&M.” Adient’s share price fell nearly 10% on this news. On January 29, 2018, defendants announced disappointing financial results for Adient’s first quarter of 2018. Defendants blamed the results on problems in the SS&M business, but stated that they were still committed to “deliver 200 basis points of consolidated adjusted EBIT margin improvement by the end of 2020” and were “examining the composition of these 200 basis points . . . . [I]f SS&M . . . is incapable of delivering the 100 to 200 basis points of improvement by 2020, we’ll look to execute other parts of – other things within the rest of our organization to offset the shortfall.” This news drove the price of Adient shares down $5.53 per share, or about 7.6%, to close at $66.77 per share. On May 3, 2018, defendants announced a $279 million net impairment charge related to the SS&M business and admitted that “the 200 basis points of margin expansion . . . is no longer going to be achievable.” On this news, Adient shares fell approximately 10%, to close at $55.84 per share.

Then, on June 11, 2018, Adient announced (without explanation) the sudden and immediate resignation of its CEO and slashed its earnings guidance. On this news, the price of Adient shares fell another $8.88 per share to close at $48.10 per share – a one-day decline of nearly 16% and a decline of 44% from the shares’ Class Period high.

Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Adient securities during the Class Period (the “Class”). The plaintiff is represented by Robbins Geller, which has extensive experience in prosecuting investor class actions including actions involving financial fraud.

Robbins Geller is one of the world’s leading law firms representing investors in securities litigation. With 200 lawyers in 10 offices, Robbins Geller has obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history. For five consecutive years, ISS Securities Class Action Services has ranked the Firm in its annual SCAS Top 50 Report as one of the top law firms in both amount recovered for shareholders and total number of class action settlements. Robbins Geller attorneys have helped shape the securities laws and recovered tens of billions of dollars on behalf of aggrieved victims. Beyond securing financial recoveries for defrauded investors, Robbins Geller also specializes in implementing corporate governance reforms, helping to improve the financial markets for investors worldwide. Please visit http://www.rgrdlaw.com for more information.

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Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP
Samuel H. Rudman, 800-449-4900
David A. Rosenfeld
[email protected]