The Emerson Firm, a law firm with offices in Houston, and Little Rock, Ark., announced today that it is filing a class action complaint in the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota on behalf of all individuals and institutional investors who purchased the common stock of IBP, Inc. (“IBP” or the “Company”) (NYSE:IBP) between Feb. 7, 2000, and March 29, 2001, inclusive (the “Class Period”).
The Complaint alleges that the Company and certain of its officers and directors violated the federal securities laws by providing materially false and misleading information about the Company’s business and financial condition, and as a result of these false and misleading statements the Company’s stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period. Specifically, the complaint alleges that on Dec. 29, 2000, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) sent IBP’s lawyers a comment letter citing 45 instances of improper accounting during the Class Period. On March 13, 2001, the Company announced that it filed amended disclosure statements with the SEC due to “financial misstatements and irregularities.” IBP also confirmed that it was taking a pretax charge of $47 million relating to a review of operations at its DFG Foods subsidiary (“DFG”). In addition, the Company was restating the Company’s earnings for all of 1999 and the first three quarters of 2000, taking a $9.5 million non-cash charge against fourth quarter earnings as a result of a changed accounting method for executive compensation expenses. Finally, Defendants revealed for the first time that they were changing their accounting for revenue recognition, resulting in a charge to earnings of $2.4 million.
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Further, the Complaint alleges that Defendants continued to mislead the marketplace into believing that its announced merger with Tyson Foods, Inc. (“Tyson”) would be completed. Defendants’ allegedly false and misleading statements concerning the Tyson merger had its intended effect of artificially reinflating IBP’s stock price. After the close of trading on March 29, 2001, however, Tyson publicly revealed that its merger with IBP would not go forward. This revelation has sent IBP’s stock price plummeting.
The Emerson Firm has substantial experience representing investors in securities fraud class action lawsuits such as this. While the firm has offices in Arkansas and Texas, it represents shareholders from throughout the country. If you have any questions about how you may be able to recover for your losses, or if you would like to consider serving as one of the lead plaintiffs in this lawsuit, you must meet certain requirements and take appropriate action by April 9, 2001. The Firm welcomes your call or e-mail.
