Did Peter Cook intentionally misled the market and or grossly...

Did Peter Cook intentionally misled the market and or grossly negligent?

Refer to:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,,25393236-643,00.html?from=public_rss
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21498,25397672-951,00.html?from=public_rss

After settling the GSK lawsuit for a huge loss, Peter Cook repeatedly told the market the relationship with GSK is “normalised” and he Peter Cook is happy with GSK’s effort to market Relenza.

The market can assume Peter Cook’s statements were true and had an expectation in a normalised relationship, Peter Cook would be kept abreast of GSK’s effort.

On 28 April 2009, Peter Cook told the market:

Quote: "When we went through the avian influenza event four years ago, every time there was a report of a goose or duck dying in Europe our stock price went up," he said.

"To assert, right now, that this (swine flu) will cause a massive rise in sales, well, that class of response is erroneous and lacks understanding."


Less than 3 days later on 2 May 2009, GSK announced to the market their plans to double production capacity. For details refer to:
http://www.hotcopper.com.au/post_single.asp?fid=1&tid=887677&msgid=4928685

It was not until the 4 May 2009 before Peter Cook announced to the ASX: “Important GSK initiatives to new influenza A (H1N1) strain.”

Any shareholders who sold BTA shares having relied on the 28 April statement should perhaps look at the possibility of recovering their losses from BTA. In my opinion, Peter Cook’s statement is misleading, deceptive and erroneous or at best grossly negligent.

May would opined that the 28 April statement was at best foolish and stupid. Couple it to the fact that Peter Cook and his BTA mates could benefit from a lower June share price it is not beyond the realm of possibility to question whether there are any insidious reasons for the CEO to make the statements.

As for me, I have to thank Peter Cook for the cheap shares I bought in the days following the infamous statements. Any shareholders who would like to consider a class suit against BTA for their losses should contact a lawyer.