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22 Dec 19. Babcock hunts down shadowy tormentor. Submarine and warship repairer Babcock believes it has identified the anonymous analyst behind a damaging attack on the company. Babcock, one of the Ministry of Defence’s biggest suppliers, was blindsided in October last year when a previously unknown organisation, Boatman Capital Research, published a highly critical dossier.
The report claimed the company had “systematically misled investors by burying bad news about its performance”, and called for the departures of chief executive Archie Bethel and then chairman Mike Turner.
The 23-page attack wiped more than 5%, or £130m, from the company’s market value. Babcock published a rebuttal, claiming the report contained “many false and malicious statements”.
The board hired the investigative firm Kroll to trace the author. It is believed to have identified David Robertson, a former journalist at The Times who worked at the corporate intelligence firm K2 and now runs his own company.
Babcock is believed to have written to Robertson, 46, warning him to cease and desist, but is not thought to be taking further action.
Robertson, whose outfit, Thirteen Research, conducts corporate investigations, could not be contacted for comment. Babcock, now chaired by Ruth Cairnie, declined to comment.
The hunt for Boatman intensified in May after it issued another report, accusing the FTSE 250 firm of “underperformance and overcomplexity”. That report centred on Babcock’s military vehicles division, but did not hit the share price as hard.
The email address behind Boatman was initially traced to a company in Panama. There were various theories about the people involved, ranging from short-sellers — which profit from declines in a company’s share price — to the Russian state.
Babcock’s shares have bounced back strongly since the summer, rising more than 40%. They closed on Friday at 606.8p, valuing the business at about £3.1bn.
(Source: The Sunday Times)
The report claimed the company had “systematically misled investors by burying bad news about its performance”, and called for the departures of chief executive Archie Bethel and then chairman Mike Turner.
The 23-page attack wiped more than 5%, or £130m, from the company’s market value. Babcock published a rebuttal, claiming the report contained “many false and malicious statements”.
The board hired the investigative firm Kroll to trace the author. It is believed to have identified David Robertson, a former journalist at The Times who worked at the corporate intelligence firm K2 and now runs his own company.
Babcock is believed to have written to Robertson, 46, warning him to cease and desist, but is not thought to be taking further action.
Robertson, whose outfit, Thirteen Research, conducts corporate investigations, could not be contacted for comment. Babcock, now chaired by Ruth Cairnie, declined to comment.
The hunt for Boatman intensified in May after it issued another report, accusing the FTSE 250 firm of “underperformance and overcomplexity”. That report centred on Babcock’s military vehicles division, but did not hit the share price as hard.
The email address behind Boatman was initially traced to a company in Panama. There were various theories about the people involved, ranging from short-sellers — which profit from declines in a company’s share price — to the Russian state.
Babcock’s shares have bounced back strongly since the summer, rising more than 40%. They closed on Friday at 606.8p, valuing the business at about £3.1bn.
- The Ministry of Defence has spent £7bn so far on its new class of Dreadnought submarine, which will be armed with nuclear missiles. FTSE 100 defence giant BAE Systems is building the submarines at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, to replace the Royal Navy’s ageing Vanguard-class vessels, and says they will begin going into service in the early 2030s.
(Source: The Sunday Times)
