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Tag: SONG

Akazoo

Contrarian Calls, Revisited: Quintessential Capital’s Short of Akazoo

Published November 16, 2020

Gabriele Grego of Quintessential Capital Management used the inaugural Contrarian Investor Virtual Conference to announce his short of Akazoo (NASDAQ:SONG).

“We believe Akazoo is a scheme orchestrated by management to profit while egregiously deceiving investors,” Grego said during the presentation. “We see signs of very suspicious accounting manipulation,” including cash inconsistencies and “a total lack of income taxes.”

What Happened

Akazoo shares sold off immediately after publication of Grego’s report. After closing the previous session at $2.53, SONG dropped to $2.22. A series of law firms quickly lined up to launch lawsuits against the company.

A week later the stock was trading at $1.14,. The company fired its CEO and Nasdaq suspended trading in its shares. On May 21, an Akazoo special committee of independent directors announced that management and associates “participated in sophisticated multi-year fraud.”

Nasdaq delisted the shares on May 27.

Akazoo has since become a poster child for SPAC misconduct, with the Financial Times devoting an article to Grego and his report (see below).

Shameless Plug Alert: The next iteration of the Contrarian Investor Virtual Conference, our fifth, takes place Dec. 10. Get tickets here.

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Shares of Akazoo, Silvercorp Sell Off On Reports From Inaugural Contrarian Investor Virtual Podcast

Published April 21, 2020

The Contrarian Investor Podcast, in partnership with ValueWalk, hosted the inaugural virtual conference before market open on Monday, April 20. A recording of the event is available on our new YouTube channel (and viewable at the bottom of this page).

Shares of Akazoo sold off sharply after the presentation from Gabriele Grego of Quintessential Capital Management that kicked off the event. “We believe Akazoo is a scheme orchestrated by management to profit while egregiously deceiving investors,” Grego said during the presentation. “We see signs of very suspicious accounting manipulation,” including cash inconsistencies and “a total lack of income taxes.”

Update: On May 21, an Akazoo special committee of independent directors announced that management and associates “participated in sophisticated multi-year fraud.”

Silvercorp Metals also sold off in the pre-market after the presentation by Nathan Anderson of Hindenburg Research.

Maj Soueidan of GeoInvesting LLC, a previous guest on this podcast, said he was bullish on shares of Intouch Insight. The customer experience company’s stock has sold off after coronavirus, which Soueidan says is an opportunity to build a position. He has a target of about $3 for the stock, which was trading around 27 cents a share at the time of his presentation.

Matt Zabloski, another guest on the podcast, gave the final presentation of the event, saying he was long shares of Vale, a Brazilian iron ore producer.

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