Stripnomics

They say that the game is always the same and only the players change. Sometimes the players are nearly the same.

Here is a paragraph from a Stanford Law School class action summary for a case against GMH Communities Trust (GCT):

The original complaint alleges that defendants, GMH Communities Trust and certain of its officers and directors, disseminated false and misleading financial statements in a scheme to inflate the earnings of the Company and issued dividends in violation of loan covenants in order to drive the price of its stock higher. The higher stock price allowed the Company to sell a secondary offering in October 2005 on more favorable terms. Defendants portrayed the Company as a growing real estate investment trust in a particular niche market, student and marketing housing and military housing, paying high dividends. Unbeknownst to the market, the Company’s strong earnings were the result of accounting fraud. As part of the Company’s closing of its books on fiscal year 2005, GMH’s chief financial officer wrote to the Audit Committee indicating that there were problems with the “tone at the top” of the Company’s management. In response to the letter, the Audit Committee conducted an investigation which indicated, among other things, material weaknesses in internal controls, pressure by key executives on the accounting function and the need for adjustments in the financial statements in current and prior accounting periods. In addition, the Company’s issuance of $0.91 in 2005 dividends exceeded the 110% of funds from operations per share limitation under the loan covenants of its credit facility. The stock dropped 23% on the news from a close of $16.83 on March 10 to close at $12.90 on March 13. On March 31, 2006, the Company announced the continued delay in filing its 2005 annual report and that it expected to restate its prior previously reported financial results due to improper capitalization of expenses and the improper timing of recognition of revenue and expenses. Since the initial disclosure of the audit committee investigation, the Company has lost almost $224 million in market capitalization, closing at $11.21 on April 3, 2006 following the March 31, 2006 disclosure.

Click HERE for the full report. The case was settled for $8.75M.

As you know, American Campus Communities (ACC) purchase GCT last year. All the pieces are there. You just need to put them together with a dose of common sense. I see what’s happening - do you?

This entry was posted on Monday, February 9th, 2009 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Accounting, American Campus Communities (ACC), Body Language, Leadership, Real Estate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.