Lawsuit Overview
June 15, 2015 - The lead plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal with prejudice.
April 16, 2015 - The court granted defendants' motion to dismiss with leave to amend.
November 21, 2014 - The defendants filed a motion to dismiss.
October 22, 2014 - The lead plaintiffs filed an amended complaint.
September 22, 2014 - The lead plaintiffs and lead counsel were appointed and all cases were consolidated.
August 11, 2014 - Lead plaintiff motions were filed.
June 11, 2014 - An investor in shares of Annies Inc (NYSE: BNNY) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Annies Inc over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between August 8, 2013 and June 3, 2014.
According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges on behalf of purchasers of Annies Inc (NYSE: BNNY) common shares between, that the defendants violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 between August 8, 2013 and June 3, 2014.
The plaintiff claims that defendants allegedly misrepresented and/or failed to disclose material adverse facts about Annies Inc’s operations and financial performance, including that Annies Inc's historical methodology for estimating certain trade allowances did not include all related trade promotion costs, that Annies Inc's controls over accounting for contract manufacturing did not sufficiently evaluate the valuation and accuracy of all contract manufacturing receivables and payables, that Annies Inc had a material weakness in its ability to detect misstatements as a result of its insufficient controls, and that as a result of its inadequate internal and financial controls, Annies Inc's financial statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
Annies Inc reported that its Total Revenue rose from $141.30 million for the 12 months period that ended on March 31, 2012 to $169.98 million for the 12 months period that ended on March 31, 2013 and that its respective Net Income increased from $9.59 million to $11.55 million. Shares of Annies Inc (NYSE: BNNY) grew from $32.51 per share in December 2012 to as high as $51.36 per share in October 2013.
Since then Annies Inc (NYSE: BNNY) shares declined significantly.
Then on June 4, 2014, Annies Inc announced in an Securities and Exchange Commission filing, that on June 1, 2014, the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors (the Audit Committee ) of Annie's Inc. (the Company ) was orally informed by its independent registered public accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP ( PwC ), that PwC was resigning effective the earlier of August 11, 2014 or the completion of Annies Inc's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Form 10-Q for the period ending June 30, 2014. Annies Inc also disclosed that that there was material weakness in internal control over financial reporting for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2014. The material weakness identified in Annies Inc's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2014 related to an insufficient complement of finance and accounting resources, including employee turnover, within the organization resulting in design deficiencies in certain areas in which our controls were not precise enough to detect misstatements that in the aggregate could be material to the consolidated financial statements.
Shares of Annies Inc (NYSE: BNNY) closed on June 11, 2014, at $31.16 per share.