Could 'secretive' Venture soothe market jitters by clearing the smoke?

SINGAPORE (May 11): In the wake of a short-selling attack, shares in Venture plunged 32.6% within three weeks to hit a low of $19.42 on May 2.

This came after over one million of its shares were shorted on April 20. Then, a group calling itself Valiant Varriors said in a blog post on April 24 that Venture was being affected by weakening sales of smokeless cigarette devices produced by Philip Morris International.

Valiant Varriors claims about 30% of Venture’s revenue comes from Philip Morris’ iQOS heat-not-burn devices, and said Venture’s sales orders for the device have declined 50% from initial 2018 forecasts.

---

Related Stories

• CGS-CIMB trims Venture Corp target price on muted outlook
• Venture Corp posts 19.7% lower net profit of $140 mil, maintains DPS of 25 cents
• Despite challenging 2QFY2023, RHB Bank Singapore keeps ‘buy’ call on Venture Corporation

---