NutraIngredients-USA quoted Manatt’s Scott Schwartz, a partner in the firm’s corporate and finance practice, for an article about Omega Protein’s recent statement in response to criticism of its business strategy. An activist investor had expressed concern about the company’s move into human nutrition segments, claiming the move was a mismanaged assortment of ill-fitting parts.
In an announcement about the new dividend plan, the company said, with respect to the risks of its human nutrition strategy: “The Company's expectations regarding its human nutrition segment, its future prospects and the dietary supplement market or the human health and wellness segment generally, proving to be incorrect.”
Schwartz said that wording struck him as odd and unusually direct.
“I would say this is not common. It seems here they are making a statement implying that something they thought in the past was wrong. And I wouldn’t advise a client to use the word ‘incorrect;’ I’d say something more like ‘Our estimates relating to the nutraceutical sector may prove to be overstated’ or something similar,” Schwartz told NutraIngredients-USA.
Read the article here.