From staff reports

Several large law firms around the U.S. are attempting to gather plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit directed against the multinational corporation that includes among its assets a silicon metal and alloy production plant in Beverly.

Lawsuits being prepared by Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC, and Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C., both of Washington D.C., the Brian Schall Law Firm of Los Angeles, Calif., and others are urging anyone who bought shares of Ferroglobe between Aug. 18 and Nov. 27, 2018, to sign on.

Ferroglobe PLC, headquartered in the United Kingdom, owns silicon and specialty alloy production plants around the world both directly and through subsidiaries. Among the latter is Globe Metallurgical, Inc., which owns the Beverly plant and others in Alloy, W.Va., Selma, Ala., and Niagara Falls, N.Y.

The lawsuit alleges that Ferroglobe failed to state in company stock forecasts leading up to the third quarter that demand for its products, which include silicon metal and alloys, would soften and corporate income would suffer as a result. Ferroglobe declared $66 million in net profits for the second quarter of 2018; for the third quarter it declared a loss of about $2 million, and its stock lost 62 percent of its value, the lawsuit said.

The company on at least three occasions in August and September of 2018 misled investors, the lawsuit alleges, with statements that were “materially false and/or misleading, and failed to disclose material adverse facts about the company’s business, operations and prospects.”

The lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of New York federal court Jan. 22. No response had been filed by Ferroglobe as of Tuesday afternoon. The lawsuit was filed in the name of Lance Treankle as a plaintiff investor claiming to have been harmed, but the class action lawsuit could be joined by hundreds of others.

In late November, when the adverse third quarter results were issued by the company, it announced that market conditions for its products had deteriorated through the quarter and it intended to curtail production of silicon metal and manganese alloys. “… We are operating in a volatile environment currently and our financial results may continue to be challenged in the near term,” a press release cited in the lawsuit read in part.

Sales of silicon metal, the company said, were also affected by the tariff disputes between the U.S. and China, which impacted availability of aluminum scrap.

The impact on the Beverly operation, which in the past according to company presentation documents online has produced about 24,000 tons of silicon metal, about 48,000 tons of silicon alloys and 360 tons of solar-grade silicon annually, could not be determined by The Marietta Times as corporate representatives could not be contacted Tuesday. A slide deck used during the earnings call in November indicated a production cutback at the plant, potentially idling one furnace.

None of the law firms involved in the class-action lawsuits returned calls for comment.

Ferroglobe’s stock after the November third-quarter announcements dropped to $1.80, the lawsuit said, losing 62 percent of its value. The stock Tuesday was trading at about $2.30.

Ferroglobe PLC

•Multinational producer of silicon, alloys and other metals, also owns mining and energy production facilities.

•Ownership group for Globe Metallurgical, Inc., which owns a production plant in Beverly.

•The target of a class action lawsuit regarding stock performance from the third quarter of 2018.

Source: Case 1:19-cv-00629-RA, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.