By Frank ChungTroubled surfwear chain SurfStitch has been hit with a A$100 million (NZ$107m) class action lawsuit on behalf of shareholders who were wiped out by a series of shock downgrades. The claim period relates to shareholders who purchased or held shares in SurfStitch between 27 August 2015 and 8 June 2016, who saw the value of their shares plummet by 85 per cent. It looks like a A$500m collapse in shareholder value, but the actual claim period for us seems like about A$100m." The case is being funded by litigation funder Vannin Capital, and is believed to be one of the first shareholder class actions under the Supreme Court of Queensland's new class action rules which came into effect on 1 March. "Class actions like this send a powerful message to company boards that if you mislead investors, you will be held to account," he said.

Source: New Zealand Herald May 23, 2017 03:22 UTC