Shortly after the market opened on Monday, Noble’s stock rose as much as 8.9%, before falling back to trade up 3.3% at 0.47 Singapore dollars (US$0.34) a share.
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Noble Group Ltd. said it’s been approached by several parties with financing and investment options as the commodity firm tries to shake off the worst week for its stock in more than six years.
The choice of date for the release of the quarterlies has raised some eyebrows, given that August 10 is a public holiday in Singapore so the exchange will be shut.
“Our Q2 performance is satisfactory” and “our business in the first month of Q3 is ahead of our Q2”, said Noble Group. While there was no guarantee of a deal in the near future, the board was committed to maximising shareholder value, it added. “Traders who have been shorting the stock are probably getting squeezed after Noble brought forward the release of its earnings”. The company has bought back S$131 million of its shares since June and hired PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP last month to review its practices.
Noble said it would also release more details about the valuation of its holding in Yancoal, an Australian firm that whose valuation by Noble has been at the centre of attacks on the group since this February.
Noble “has been approached by a number of parties in terms of potential financings and strategic and/or investment options”, it said on Monday August 3. In February Iceberg Research, a social research consultancy, strongly criticized Noble’s accounting practices and highlighted how the Hong Kong firm has reported far higher aggregate net profits than it has generated operating cash flow.
Last week, Noble’s stock price tumbled by 28 percent, with double-digit drops on Thursday and Friday.
Looking at the charts below, Noble Group shares are in a state of capitulation.
Noble Group’s board has “been made aware of misleading information being spread about the company in what appears to be an attempt to manipulate the company’s share price”, the company said.
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-With assistance from Jonathan Burgos in Singapore.
