A Portuguese cash-and-carry tycoon has renewed his attack on a London-listed vodka distiller after accusing its board of treating shareholders with “disdain”.
Luis Amaral, who owns 9.7% of Stock Spirits, said the company “lacked transparency” and had failed to provide an adequate trading update for seven months. It is his latest broadside after a successful campaign to oust the chief executive last year.
Stock, which sells spirits and liqueurs in central and eastern Europe, said last week that it expected its full-year results to be in line with forecasts.
However, Amaral said that by cancelling an investor day in November and failing to provide any update in the third quarter, the management had neglected to “communicate openly with its shareholders”.
“By the time of Stock’s full-year results, the market will have had just four sentences of trading update in seven months,” said the tycoon, whose stake is held through family fund Western Gate Private Investments.
Advertisement
“We believe that the board must address the disdainful way that investors and shareholders in this company continue to be treated.”
Stock said there was no requirement for it to issue trading updates. It added that more detail would be given with the results in March.
The company listed in late 2013 with a value of £470m. The shares opened at 235p and soon rose to 315p, but were sent tumbling by a crackdown on strong alcohol in Poland and a pricing war with rivals. They closed last week at 177.5p.
Amaral, whose wholesale chain Eurocash is one of Stock’s biggest customers, has been agitating for change at the distiller since last spring. He has accused the board of destroying value by failing to address a loss of market share in Poland, its largest market.
The multimillionaire, who has a stake in the online newspaper Observador, has already forced Stock into making significant changes.
Advertisement
In April, the company announced that chief executive Chris Heath was taking immediate early retirement. A month later, two representatives of Amaral’s Western Gate fund were appointed to the board.