Good questions. I've been considering the same. Here's my thinking: 1. Noting there are over 1 billion shares on issue (but I haven't checked how many shares were traded during the period), and the share price fell from $5.15 on 7 Feb 2020 to $2.19 on 20 Mar 2020, there could be a significant financial hit. I don't imagine it would be anything like $1billion, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was hundreds of millions. Boral could seek to settle early, if they didn't think they could win, or challenge any adverse finding and delay any financial impact to future FYs. As purely a bush lawyer (i.e. I know enough that I know that I don't know law and I shouldn't give legal advice), Boral could argue that it reported the matters as soon as practicable after becoming aware of them, and thus not in breach; and the capital return in Feb 2022 could be argued as an off set against some of the potential losses. (Happy to be corrected on these, because that will change my risk rating on the company.)
2. At a guess, the lawyers could argue for a 30%'ish fee (I've known no-win no-fee lawyers to do that) and individuals would get in the order of cents for each share they purchased during the relevant period. It's probably not a bad return if you were an active day trader at that time.
As an existing holder, I am still weighing up whether the case will cost me more than it would potentially return.
I remain a Hold for now. But I will be following this class action closely.
BLD Price at posting:
$4.94 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
