A2 Milk Class Action

Shine Lawyers’ associate company in Australia has launched a class action on behalf of Australian and New Zealand shareholders who suffered losses after acquiring A2 Milk shares (A2M) on the ASX or on the NZX following a 62% drop in market value in FY21.

If you acquired A2M shares between 19 August 2020 and 7 May 2021, or before 19 August 2020 and held your shares until after 28 September 2020, you may be eligible to join this class action.

What is the A2 Milk Class Action about?

The class action alleges that between 19 August 2020 and 7 May 2021, A2M engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct, breaching its continuous disclosure obligations, and failing to adequately disclose future trade plans. It is further alleged that by 19 August 2020, A2M was, or ought to have been aware that their FY21 guidance, and subsequent representations, did not adequately take into account a number of factors known to A2M which ultimately impacted the Company’s financial performance, resulting in a 62% drop in market value in FY21. These factors include:

• The decline in daigou or reseller sales, which fell due to the impact of A2M’s sales through its Cross Border e-Commerce Channel (CBEC). This saw A2M heavily market English labelled infant products directly into the Chinese market with discounting that effectively undercut their sales in the daigou or reseller channel; and
• The decline in the CBEC business due to the decline in daigou or reseller sales, as daigou sales often help stimulate demand for direct orders.

If you acquired A2M shares in Australia (ASX) or New Zealand (NZX) between 19 August 2020 and 7 May 2021, or before 19 August 2020 and held your shares until after 28 September 2020, you may be eligible to join this class action.

Background to the A2 Milk Class Action

Shine Lawyers’ associate company in Australia commenced a class action against A2M following reports of alleged misconduct in connection with multiple downgrades of the milk company’s expected revenue in FY21. The following timeline highlights the series of events that led to the drop in market value:

19 August 2020

• The company reported its results for the financial year ending 30 June 2020. A2M reported it achieved revenue of $1.73 billion and an EBITDA to sales margin (EBITDA margin) of 31.7%. In the same announcement, the company provided guidance for the 2021 financial year, stating that it expected to continue its strong revenue growth and to achieve an EBITDA margin of 30% to 31%

28 September 2020

• A2M announced that it expected its FY21 group revenue to be between $1.8 billion and $1.9 billion and that its group EBITDA margin would be 31%

17 December 2020

• A2M went into a trading halt pending an announcement regarding its previously issued guidance to the market

18 December 2020

• A2M announced a downgrade to its expected FY21 group revenue from between $1.8 billion and $1.9 billion to between $1.4 billion and $1.55 billion. The group EBITDA margin was also downgraded from 31% to between 26% and 29%

25 February 2021

• A2M announced that it expected its FY21 group revenue to be at the lower end of its previously downgraded guidance, being $1.4 billion, and that it’s group EBITDA margin would drop to between 24% and 26% (excluding MVM transaction costs)

10 May 2021

• A2M announced a further downgrade of its expected FY21 group revenue from $1.4 billion to between approximately $1.20 billion and $1.25 billion. The group EBITDA margin was also significantly downgraded to between 11% and 12% (excluding MVM transaction costs).

The Share Price Drop

28 September 2020

• Immediately following the 28 September 2020 announcement, A2M’s share price opened at $15.41 and closed at $15.31, down from the previous day’s close of $17.20 (a reduction of $1.89 or approximately 11%)

18 December 2020

• The share price continued to fall immediately following the 18 December 2020 announcement, where A2M’s share price opened at $9.97 and closed at $10.23, down from the previous trading day’s close of $13.28 (a reduction of $3.05 or approximately 23%)

25 February 2021

• Again, immediately following the 25 February 2021 announcement, A2M’s share price opened at $8.85 and closed at $8.77, down from the previous day’s close of $10.45 (a reduction of $1.68 or approximately 16%)

10 May 2021

• Finally, immediately following the 10 May 2021 announcement, A2M’s share price opened at $6.05 and closed at $6.09, down from the previous day’s close of $7.00 (a reduction of $0.91 or 13%)

7 May 2021

• Over the period from 19 August 2020 to 7 May 2021 A2M shares lost two thirds of their value.

Who is Shine Lawyers’ Class Action team? 

Shine Lawyers is a specialist litigation firm predominantly representing plaintiffs. Shine Lawyers’ associated company in Australia is one of the largest class action and plaintiff litigation firms in Australasia.

In New Zealand, Shine Lawyers has previously conducted major class actions, including a representative test case on behalf of Christchurch homeowners against the Earthquake Commission. 

Common Questions

I’m located overseas, can I still join the class action?

Yes, whether you live in Australia, New Zealand or overseas, if you purchased shares in the A2 Milk Company Limited during the period 19 August 2020 to 7 May 2021, you are encouraged to join the class action.

What is daigou or the reseller market?

Daigou, which means ‘buy on behalf of’ in Chinese, consists of a vast network of both retail or small and corporate resellers in Australia. The resellers take individual orders through platforms like WeChat and then ship requested products to China.

Daigou can fall into two categories:

• Retail daigou: are generally a group of international students and tourists who purchase goods from retail stores and send them back to China; and
• Corporate daigou: are digital marketing and consultancy companies that have large numbers of daigou agents in their business operations with formal channels or digital platforms to manage product procurement, delivery and other logistics.

What is Cross Border eCommerce (CBEC)?

Cross Border e-Commerce (CBEC) is a state sanctioned means of importing products into China. CBEC is where Chinese domestic consumers purchase goods from overseas via third party e-Commerce platforms. The platforms include Alibaba, Net Ease Koala and JD Worldwide. The advantage of CBEC for a business is that a Chinese presence, and thus compliance with Chinese regulations, are not required by the business.

CBEC is also characterised by frequent discounting to attract sales. Similar to black Friday and Boxing Day sales events, China has “11/11 singles day” in November and “6/18” in June.