Flooring distributor Victoria (VCP) has been the subject of a shorting attack by Iceberg Research. Their report which you can easily find on the web was published on August 3rd (yesterday) but the share price actually rose yesterday and is rising today even though a well-known blogger mentioned it.
I have an interest in this company having held a few shares historically which were almost all sold in 2021 – currently down to 50 shares worth all of £170 – and I commented on their last results webinar.
As with all shorting attacks, the Iceberg note covers a number of issues but the main complaints are: a) Companies claimed to be acquired were in fact already subsidiaries and changed their names to conceal this (it is unclear what assets were actually acquired and from whom); b) Executive Chairman Geoff Wilding was previously involved with two companies that failed; c) Victoria inventory levels have been rising and may have to be written down (their inventory levels are higher than peers); d) debt is rising and free cash flow was negative over the last 10 years.
The company has not yet responded but I hope they do so as it should be easy to rebut these allegations if untrue or if published information is being misinterpreted as may be the case.
I am not even going to attempt to differentiate fact from fiction until more information is disclosed which may not be soon in the mid-August holiday season.
Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )
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