Amira Nature Foods, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ANFI)
On Wednesday, Amira Nature Foods, a worldwide provider of Indian rice and specialty foods, announced completion of an independent investigation into false claims and allegations made this past August by certain short sellers. The independent investigation by BDO found that the allegations were unfounded and unsubstantiated. Amira also announced a new distribution agreement with one of the largest U.S. supermarket chains.
The false allegations first surfaced in early August 2015 and persisted until the end of that month. On August 11, Amira hired a law firm to investigate and pursue claims against those who have been disseminating material false, misleading, and defamatory information about Amira and engaging in other serious misconduct against the Company. As part of that effort, Amira filed a lawsuit against several entities seeking damages and injunctive relief for defamation, trade libel, civil conspiracy, tortious interference, including but not limited to interference with banking, auditors, investors, and capital market relationships. Yahoo Finance
At the time the lawsuit was filed, Karan A Chanana, Chairman of Amira Nature Foods Ltd., explained:
“After great patience, we have concluded that we must act to protect our Company, our people, and our investors from this vicious cabal of market manipulators and their lies and other egregious misconduct.” Business Wire
ANFI Technical Analysis
In mid July, ANFI reported strong fiscal year 2015 results sending its stock to $14.56, essentially matching year to date highs. The move higher was short lived as false allegations hit the market and the stock plummeted for weeks before finding a bottom at $2.51 on August 20. Since then, the stock regained a gradual uptrend topping out at $7.38 on October 5. More recently, the stock has traded in a range between $5.15 and $6.15. On Wednesday, the stock surged 61% to a high of $8.28, on 31.5 times average daily volume. The stock closed the day at $7.61, a 48% increase over Tuesday’s close. The most significant intraday resistance levels were near $7.80 and $8.00. The $7.50 area acted as both support and resistance during the day, and most of the day’s trading volume took place above this level. Upside resistance sits at $8.28, which was also a support level in August. Downside support sits near $7.30, $7.00 and $6.60.
ANFI has a low float of 16.2 million shares with 19% of that short. Earnings will be reported on November 16, so keep this on your watch-list.
Amira Nature Foods Company Profile
Amira Nature Foods Ltd. (ANFI) is a provider of packaged Indian specialty rice and other related rice based products. The Company’s products include snacks, ready-to-heat meals, organic product offerings, wheat, barley and legumes. ANFI sells Basmati rice, a long-grain variety of rice grown only in certain regions of the Indian sub-continent, under the brand name Amira. Amira branded products are sold by retailers such as Bharti, Big Bazaar, Carrefour, Costco, easyday, Jetro Restaurant Depot, Smart & Final, Spencer’s and Tesco. In emerging markets, its products are sold by retailers and supermarkets and privately-owned independent stores. The Company operates a fully-automated and integrated processing and milling facility that is strategically located in the vicinity of the key Basmati rice paddy producing regions of northern India. The facility spans a covered area of approximately 310,000 square feet, with a processing capacity of approximately 24 metric tons of paddy per hour. Google Finance
