NEW YORK, Aug. 19, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C., a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm, is investigating potential claims against Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: LW) on behalf of long-term stockholders following a class action complaint that was filed against Lamb Weston on June 13, 2024 with a Class Period from July 25, 2023 to April 3, 2024. Our investigation concerns whether the board of directors of Lamb Weston have breached their fiduciary duties to the company.
Lamb Weston is the largest producer of frozen potato products in North America and the second largest worldwide. The Company sells its products to restaurants and retailers around the world. One of Lamb Weston’s largest customers is fast-food chain, McDonald’s.
On July 25, 2023, Lamb Weston announced that it had completed the design phase of a new Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) software system that the Company would work to implement across its operations. According to the Company, that new software system would manage and integrate critically important aspects of the Company’s business, including, among other things, supplier payments, inventories, warehousing, customer invoicing, and order shipments. Investors were told that the new ERP system would replace Lamb Weston’s antiquated financial and operating systems, which the Company’s Chief Financial Officer acknowledged suffered from Lamb Weston’s “decades of under-spending in [information technology].” In late November 2023, Lamb Weston transitioned some of its central systems to the new ERP infrastructure.
The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made numerous material misrepresentations and omissions regarding the design and implementation of Lamb Weston’s new ERP system. Specifically, throughout the Class Period, (1) Defendants represented that, through the design of the Company’s new ERP system, Lamb Weston had “strengthen[ed] [its] operational infrastructure.” (2) The Company also downplayed any issues it experienced with the implementation of the system as merely “usual bumps,” and told investors that its financial guidance for fiscal 2024 appropriately accounted for any negative financial impact associated with the system’s deployment.
The complaint further alleges that the truth emerged on April 4, 2024, when Lamb Weston reported financial results for its fiscal third quarter 2024, and disclosed significant problems with its transition to the new ERP system. Those problems caused Lamb Weston to lose over $130 million in sales during the third quarter and led the Company to significantly reduce its sales guidance for its full fiscal year. The unsuccessful ERP transition resulted in Lamb Weston’s “reduced visibility into finished goods inventory at [ ] distribution centers,” which negatively impacted the Company’s ability to fulfill customer orders, resulting in shipment delays and cancelled orders. In total, Lamb Weston’s disastrous ERP system roll-out negatively impacted the Company’s net sales by $135 million, net income by $72 million, and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization by $95 million. Lamb Weston also cut its sales guidance range for fiscal 2024 by $330 million, at the midpoint. The Company disclosed that it expected sales volumes in its fiscal fourth quarter 2024 to be negatively impacted by some customers that were affected by Lamb Weston’s botched ERP transition, as those customers turned to Lamb Weston’s competitors to meet their needs. As a result of these disclosures, the price of Lamb Weston stock declined by $19.59 per share, or over 19%.
If you are a long-term stockholder of Lamb Weston, have information, would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Brandon Walker or Marion Passmore by email at investigations@bespc.com, by telephone at (212) 355-4648, or by filling out this contact form. There is no cost or obligation to you.
About Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. is a nationally recognized law firm with offices in New York and California. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in commercial, securities, derivative, and other complex litigation in state and federal courts across the country. For more information about the firm, please visit www.bespc.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Contact Information:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.
Brandon Walker, Esq.
Marion Passmore, Esq.
(212) 355-4648
investigations@bespc.com
www.bespc.com
