NEW YORK, Oct. 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C., a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm, reminds investors that class actions have been commenced on behalf of stockholders of Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS), Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBD), Olo, Inc. (NYSE: OLO), and Centessa Pharmaceuticals Plc (NASDAQ: CNTA). Stockholders have until the deadlines below to petition the court to serve as lead plaintiff. Additional information about each case can be found at the link provided.
Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS)
Class Period: February 18, 2021 – March 25, 2022
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: November 22, 2022
Barclays is a British universal bank. Its businesses include consumer banking and payments operations around the world, as well as global corporate and investment banking.
Barclays has disclosed that starting on February 18, 2021, Barclays Bank PLC ("BBPLC"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Barclays, issued and sold approximately $17.64 billion in unregistered securities over and above the maximum amount of securities registered in two BBPLC shelf registration statements. Barclays has also admitted that "by virtue of the fact that the over-issuance occurred and was not immediately identified, both [Barclays] and BBPLC had a material weakness in relation to certain aspects of their internal control environment and, as a consequence, their internal control over financial reporting for the year ended 31 December 2021 was not effective." As a result of the over-issuance, Barclays has restated its financial statements included on its Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2021. BBPLC has also commenced a rescission offer for the unregistered securities.
The truth began to emerge on Monday March 28, 2022, when, before the trading market for Barclays ADRs opened for the day, Barclays disclosed the over-issuance for the first time, and informed investors that BBPLC had issued approximately $15.2 billion in unregistered securities in excess of the maximum amount of securities registered in an August 2019 shelf registration statement, that BBPLC would commence a rescission offer for those unregistered securities, and that Barclays expected the rescission losses to be c.£450m (approximately $589.5 million). In response to this news, the price of Barclays ADRs declined 10.61%, or $0.96 per ADR, from a closing price on Friday March 25, 2022 of $9.05 per ADR to a closing price of $8.09 per ADR on Monday March 28, 2022, the next trading day.
On July 28, 2022, before the trading market for Barclays ADRs opened for the day, Barclays announced that BBPLC had also over-issued unregistered securities in excess of the maximum amount of securities registered in a second BBPLC shelf registration statement, and that Barclays had provisioned "£1,592m [approximately $1.940 billion] (December 2021: £220m) related to the overissuance of structured notes and £165m [approximately $201 million] (December 2021: nil) related to liabilities that could be incurred arising out of ongoing discussions in respect of a potential SEC resolution." In response to this news, the price of Barclays ADRs declined $0.41 per ADR, or 5.2%, from a closing price of $7.89 per ADR on July 27, 2022 to a closing price of $7.48 per ADR on July 28, 2022.
The complaint alleges, among other things, that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements or omitted material information (a) in Barclays reported financial statements (which have been restated), (b) by stating that Barclays internal controls over financial reporting were effective (which Barclays has admitted were not effective and had a material weakness), and (c) by failing to disclose the over-issuance, and that BBPLC was violating U.S. securities laws and/or SEC regulations, subjecting Barclays to legal liability.
For more information on the Barclays class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/BCS
Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBD)
Class Period: May 17, 2021 – April 8, 2022
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: November 22, 2022
The complaint alleges the Defendants made materially false and misleading statements and omitted material facts in the Registration Statement and Prospectus for Warner Bros. common stock. The complaint's allegations related to the merger between Discovery and the WarnerMedia business of AT&T (the "Merger"). The Merger was announced on May 17, 2021 and closed on April 8, 2022. Pursuant to the Merger, Discovery combined its business with WarnerMedia to form Warner Bros.
At the time of filing the Registration Statement and Prospectus, Defendants either knew or had access to adverse information concerning operations of the WarnerMedia business. Among other things, as subsequently disclosed by Defendants after the Merger, (i) WarnerMedia's HBO Max streaming business had a high churn rate that made the business not "viable" unless the churn rate was reversed, (ii) AT&T was overinvesting in WarnerMedia entertainment content for streaming, without sufficient concern for return on investments, (iii) WarnerMedia had a business model to grow the number of subscribers to its streaming service without regard to cost or profitability, (iv) WarnerMedia was improvidently concentrating its investments in streaming and ignoring its other business lines, and (v) WarnerMedia had overstated the number of subscribers to HBO Max by as many as 10 million subscribers, by including as subscribers AT&T customers who had received bundled access to HBO Max, but had not signed onto the service. That adverse information was not disclosed to Discovery shareholders in the Registration Statement or Prospectus or otherwise prior to the effective date of the Merger.
As a result, the Registration Statement and Prospectus and certain of the Defendants' other public statements, contained untrue statements of material fact or omitted to state material facts required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading, in violation of Sections 11 and 12(a)(2) of the Securities Act.
From April 11, 2022, the first trading day after completion of the Merger, to the date prior to filing of this complaint (September 23, 2022), Warner Bros. market price fell by 52.4%, from $24.78 to $11.79 per share, as the market became aware of the foregoing misrepresented and omitted facts.
For more information on the Warner Bros. class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/WBD
Olo, Inc. (NYSE: OLO)
Class Period: August 11, 2021 – August 11, 2022
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: November 28, 2022
Olo provides software to restaurants to assist with online ordering and food-delivery coordination. During the Class Period, the Company’s key business metric demonstrating its growth was its “active locations,” with each active location representing a unique restaurant location using an Olo product.
In February 2020, the Company announced a partnership with Subway® restaurants (“Subway”) to enable Subway’s more than 20,000 U.S.-based restaurants to handle digital orders from third-party “marketplaces” such as Uber Eats or DoorDash. Throughout the Class Period, Olo touted the growth of its active locations, with Subway accounting for approximately 20% of those locations. By the first quarter of 2022, the Company’s active locations had grown to approximately 82,000 – a 19% increase over the prior year.
The truth emerged on August 11, 2022, when the Company announced disappointing results for the second quarter of 2022, lowering revenue guidance and reporting that its active location count remained flat at 82,000. The Company explained that it was impacted by the loss of 2,500 Subway locations, due to Subway choosing to implement direct integration with marketplaces, and that the Company expected the remaining Subway locations would also end their contracts with Olo by the fourth quarter of 2022 or first quarter of 2023 – facts Defendants claimed to have incorporated into Olo’s guidance months earlier without informing the market. In response to this news, the price of Olo common stock declined approximately 36%, from a closing price of $12.99 per share on August 11, 2022, to a closing price of $8.26 per share on August 12, 2022.
The Class Action alleges that, during the Class Period, Defendants misled investors and/or failed to disclose that (1) Subway was ending its contract with Olo; (2) Olo’s key business metric – active locations – could not continue to grow as Defendants touted due to the loss of Subway’s business; and (3) that, as a result of the above, Defendants’ statements about Olo’s business, operations, and prospects were false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
For more information on the Olo class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/OLO
Centessa Pharmaceuticals Plc (NASDAQ: CNTA)
Class Period: May 28, 2021 – June 1, 2022 or pursuant to the Company’s May 28, 2021 IPO
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: November 28, 2022
Centessa is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company that purports to discover, develop, and deliver medicines to patients. The Company’s development pipeline includes, among other products, lixivaptan, a vasopressin V2 receptor small molecule inhibitor in Phase 3 clinical development for the treatment of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (“ADPKD”); and ZF874, a small molecule pharmacological chaperone folding corrector of the Z variant of the DNA encoding protein alpha-1-antitrypsin (“A1AT”), which is in Phase 1 clinical development for the treatment of A1AT deficiency (“AATD”).
On April 21, 2021, Centessa filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in connection with the IPO, which, after several amendments, was declared effective by the SEC on May 27, 2021 (the “Registration Statement”).
On or about May 28, 2021, Centessa conducted the IPO, issuing 16.5 million of its ADSs to the public at the Offering price of $20 per ADS, for proceeds of $306.9 million to the Company after expenses and applicable underwriting discounts.
On June 1, 2021, Centessa filed a prospectus on Form 424B4 with the SEC in connection with the IPO, which incorporated and formed part of the Registration Statement (the “Prospectus” and, collectively with the Registration Statement, the “Offering Documents”).
The complaint alleges that the Offering Documents were negligently prepared and, as a result, contained untrue statements of material fact or omitted to state other facts necessary to make the statements made not misleading and were not prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations governing their preparation. Additionally, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, the Offering Documents and Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) lixivaptan was less safe than Defendants had represented; (ii) Defendants overstated lixivaptan’s clinical and commercial prospects; (iii) ZF874 was less safe than Defendants had represented; (iv) Defendants overstated ZF874’s clinical and commercial prospects while downplaying the drug’s safety issues; and (v) as a result, the Offering Documents and the Company’s public statements throughout the Class Period were materially false and/or misleading and failed to state information required to be stated therein.
On November 1, 2021, Centessa issued a press release announcing results from the Phase 1 study evaluating ZF874 in treating AATD, including, among other results, potential safety issues related to increases in liver enzymes alanine aminotransferase (“ALT”) and aspartate aminotransferase (“AST”) in one of the study subjects.
On this news, Centessa’s ADS price fell $3.19 per share, or 18.55%, to close at $14.01 per share on November 1, 2021.
On June 2, 2022, Centessa issued a press release “announc[ing] that it has made the strategic decision to discontinue development of lixivaptan for [ADPKD,]” citing “a recent observation of [ALT] and [AST] elevations in one subject” from a Phase 3 study of lixivaptan that was designed to assess liver and non-liver safety in certain subjects.
On this news, Centessa’s ADS price fell $1.25 per share, or 27.78%, to close at $3.25 per share on June 2, 2022.
Then, on August 10, 2022, Centessa issued a press release “announc[ing] its decision to discontinue development of ZF874 following a recent report of an adverse event (AE) involving elevated liver enzymes (AST/ALT) in a . . . subject dosed with 5 mg/kg BID of ZF874 in the Phase 1 study.” Centessa stated that “[b]ased on the results observed to date, the Company concluded that ZF874 was unlikely to achieve the desired target product profile.”
On this news, Centessa’s ADS price fell $0.26 per share, or 5.19%, to close at $4.75 per share on August 10, 2022, representing a total decline of 76.25% from the $20.00 per ADS Offering price.
As of the time the complaint was filed, Centessa’s ADS price continues to trade significantly below the $20.00 per ADS Offering price, damaging investors.
For more information on the Centessa class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/CNTA
About Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. is a nationally recognized law firm with offices in New York, California, and South Carolina. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in commercial, securities, derivative, and other complex litigation in state and federal courts across the country. For more information about the firm, please visit www.bespc.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Contact Information:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.
Brandon Walker, Esq.
Melissa Fortunato, Esq.
(212) 355-4648
investigations@bespc.com
www.bespc.com
