Neptune Wellness Solutions (0V8K) Risk Analysis
Risk Overview Q4, 2023
Risk Change Over Time
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 1A large portion of our outstanding shares of common stock are currently held in a class action settlement fund, and the sale, distribution or disposition of these shares could result in one or more shareholders obtaining a significant ownership stake in the common stock of the Company.
On or about October 11, 2023, the Neptune Settlement Fund, a qualified settlement fund established for the sole purpose of maintaining the settlement proceeds awarded in the class action settlement approved by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Gong v. Neptune Wellness Solutions, Inc., 2:21-cv-01386-ENV-ARL (E.D.N.Y.), was awarded 2,522,936 shares of the Company's common stock as part of the settlement award. The Neptune Settlement Fund currently holds 1,778,380 shares of the Company's common stock, which constitutes approximately 39.24% of the Company's total outstanding shares. While the Neptune Settlement Fund has indicated that it does not currently plan to engage in active participation in the Company's affairs or vote the shares in a way that would change the current board of directors or management of the Company, there can be no assurances that these intentions will not change in the future. Furthermore, due to the size of the settlement award, a distribution of the settlement shares to the class members or a disposal or sale of the shares on behalf of the class members could result in one or more shareholders owning significant percentage of the Company's common stock. The Company is not currently aware of any intentions by the Neptune Settlement Fund to dispose of any settlement shares or when the Neptune Settlement Fund intends to distribute the awarded shares to the class members.
Risk Highlights Q4, 2023
Risk Word Cloud
Risk Factors Full Breakdown - Total Risks 53
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 1AddedA large portion of our outstanding shares of common stock are currently held in a class action settlement fund, and the sale, distribution or disposition of these shares could result in one or more shareholders obtaining a significant ownership stake in the common stock of the Company.
On or about October 11, 2023, the Neptune Settlement Fund, a qualified settlement fund established for the sole purpose of maintaining the settlement proceeds awarded in the class action settlement approved by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Gong v. Neptune Wellness Solutions, Inc., 2:21-cv-01386-ENV-ARL (E.D.N.Y.), was awarded 2,522,936 shares of the Company's common stock as part of the settlement award. The Neptune Settlement Fund currently holds 1,778,380 shares of the Company's common stock, which constitutes approximately 39.24% of the Company's total outstanding shares. While the Neptune Settlement Fund has indicated that it does not currently plan to engage in active participation in the Company's affairs or vote the shares in a way that would change the current board of directors or management of the Company, there can be no assurances that these intentions will not change in the future. Furthermore, due to the size of the settlement award, a distribution of the settlement shares to the class members or a disposal or sale of the shares on behalf of the class members could result in one or more shareholders owning significant percentage of the Company's common stock. The Company is not currently aware of any intentions by the Neptune Settlement Fund to dispose of any settlement shares or when the Neptune Settlement Fund intends to distribute the awarded shares to the class members.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 2The market price of the Company's Common Shares may be highly volatile.
The stock market, from time-to-time, experiences significant price and volume fluctuations unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. Future announcements concerning the Company, its competitors, including those pertaining to financing arrangements, government regulations, developments concerning regulatory actions affecting the Company, litigation, additions or departures of key personnel, cash flow, and economic conditions and political factors in Canada and the United States may have a significant impact on the market price of the Company's Common Shares. In addition, there can be no assurance that the Company's Common Shares will continue to be listed on Nasdaq. The market price of the Company's Common Shares could fluctuate significantly for many other reasons, including for reasons unrelated to the Company's specific performance, such as reports by industry analysts, investor perceptions, or negative announcements by its subscribers, competitors or suppliers regarding their own performance, as well as general economic and industry conditions. For example, to the extent that other large companies within its industry experience declines in their stock price, the share price of the Company's Common Shares may decline as well. In addition, when the market price of a company's shares drops significantly, shareholders often institute securities class action lawsuits against the company. Litigation resulting from these claims could be costly and time-consuming and could divert the attention of management and other key personnel from the Company's business and operations. The complexity of any such claims and the inherent uncertainty of commercial or class action, litigation increases these risks. In recognition of these considerations, the Company could suffer significant litigation expenses in defending any of these claims and enter into settlement agreements. If the Company is unsuccessful in its defense of material litigation claims or is unable to settle the claims, the Company may be faced with significant monetary damage awards or other remedies against it including injunctive relief that could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations. Administrative or regulatory actions against the Company or its employees could also have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 3U.S. investors may be unable to enforce certain judgments against us in Canada.
Neptune is a corporation existing under the Business Corporations Act (Québec). A number of our directors and officers are residents of Canada or other jurisdictions outside of the United States, and substantially all of our assets are located outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult to effect service within the United States upon the Company or upon its directors and officers. Execution by United States courts of any judgment obtained against the Company or any of the Company's directors or officers in United States courts may be limited to the assets of such companies or such persons, as the case may be, located in the United States. It may also be difficult for holders of securities who reside in the United States to realize in the United States upon judgments of courts of the United States predicated upon civil liability and the civil liability of the Company's directors and executive officers under the U.S. federal securities laws. The Company has been advised that a judgment of a U.S. court predicated solely upon civil liability under United States federal securities laws or the securities or "blue sky" laws of any state within the United States, would likely be enforceable in Canada if the United States court in which the judgment was obtained has a basis for jurisdiction in the matter that would be recognized by a Canadian court for the same purposes. However, there may be doubt as to the enforceability in Canada against these non-U.S. entities or their controlling persons, directors and officers who are not residents of the United States, in original actions or in actions for enforcement of judgments of courts of the United States, of liabilities predicated solely upon U.S. federal or state securities laws.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 4If there is insufficient liquidity in our Common Shares, it could adversely affect your Shareholders' ability to sell shares.
Shareholders of the Company may be unable to sell significant quantities of Common Shares into the public trading markets without a significant reduction in the price of their Common Shares, or at all. There can be no assurance that there will be sufficient liquidity of the Common Shares on the trading market, and that the Company will continue to meet the listing requirements of the Nasdaq or achieve listing on any other public stock exchange. There can be no assurance that an active and liquid market for the Common Shares will be maintained and an investor may find it difficult to resell Common Shares.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 5Because the Company is a "smaller reporting company," we may take advantage of certain scaled disclosures available to us, resulting in holders of our securities receiving less Company information than they would receive from a public company that is not a smaller reporting company.
We are a "smaller reporting company" as defined in the Exchange Act. As a smaller reporting company, we may take advantage of certain of the scaled disclosures available to smaller reporting companies and will be able to take advantage of these scaled disclosures for so long as (i) our common shares held by non-affiliates is less than $250 million measured on the last business day of our second fiscal quarter, or (ii) our annual revenue is less than $100 million during the most recently completed fiscal year and our common shares held by non-affiliates is less than $700 million measured on the last business day of our second fiscal quarter. To the extent we take advantage of any reduced disclosure obligations, it may make it harder for investors to analyze the Company's results of operations and financial reports in comparison with other public companies. As a smaller reporting company, we are permitted to comply with scaled-back disclosure obligations in our SEC filings compared to other issuers, including with respect to disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements. We have elected to adopt the accommodations available to smaller reporting companies. Until we cease to be a smaller reporting company, the scaled-back disclosure in our SEC filings will result in less information about our company being available than for other public companies. If investors consider our common shares less attractive as a result of our election to use the scaled-back disclosure permitted for smaller reporting companies, there may be a less active trading market for our common shares and our share price may be more volatile.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 6Our constating documents permit us to issue an unlimited amount of additional Common Shares or Preferred Shares, which may prevent a third-party takeover or cause our shareholders to experience dilution in the future.
Our constating documents authorize us to issue an unlimited number of Common Shares and an unlimited number of preferred shares ("Preferred Shares"). Our board of directors has the authority to cause us to issue additional Common Shares and Preferred Shares and to determine the special rights and restrictions of the shares of one or more series of our Preferred Shares, each without consent of our shareholders. The issuance of any such securities may result in a reduction of the book value or market price of our Common Shares. Given the fact that we operate in a capital-intensive industry with significant working capital requirements, we may be required to issue additional Common Shares or other securities that are dilutive to existing shareholders in the future in order to continue our operations, which may result in dilution to existing shareholders. Further, any such issuances could result in a change of control or a reduction in the market price for our Common Shares. Additionally, the rights of the holders of Common Shares will be subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the rights of holders of any Preferred Shares that may be issued in the future. For example, Preferred Shares typically rank senior to Common Shares as to dividend rights, liquidation preference or both and may be convertible into Common Shares. Lastly, our ability to issue Preferred Shares could make it more difficult for a third-party to acquire a majority of our outstanding voting shares, particularly in the event we issue Preferred Shares with special voting rights, the effect of which may be to deprive our shareholders of a control premium that might otherwise be realized in connection with an acquisition of us.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 7Our shareholders may be subject to dilution resulting from future offerings of Common Shares by us.
We may raise additional funds in the future by issuing Common Shares or equity-linked securities. Holders of our securities have no preemptive rights in connection with such further issuances. Our board of directors has the discretion to determine if an issuance of our capital stock is warranted, the price at which such issuance is to be affected and the other terms of any future issuance of capital stock. In addition, additional common shares will be issued by us in connection with the exercise of warrants, options or grant of other equity awards granted by us. Additional common shares are also expected to be issued in settlement of a legal case, as discussed under Item 3 of Part I of this Form 10-K ("Legal Proceedings"). Such additional equity issuances could, depending on the price at which such securities are issued, substantially dilute the interests of the holders of our existing securities.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 8Our failure to meet the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq could result in a de-listing of our Common Shares.
If we fail to continue to satisfy the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq, such as the corporate governance requirements or the minimum closing bid price requirement, Nasdaq will take steps to de-list our Common Shares. The per share price of our Common Shares has declined below the minimum bid price threshold required for continued listing. Such a de-listing would likely have a negative effect on the price of our Common Shares and would impair your ability to sell or purchase our Common Shares when you wish to do so, as well as adversely affect our ability to issue additional securities and obtain additional financing in the future. On December 29, 2022, we received a deficiency notice from Nasdaq (the "Deficiency Notice") informing us that our Common Shares have failed to comply with the $1.00 minimum bid price required for continued listing under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) ("Rule 5550(a)(2)") based upon the closing bid price of our Common Shares for the 30 consecutive business days prior to the date of the Deficiency Notice. In accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), we were given 180 calendar days from December 29, 2022, or until June 27, 2023, to regain compliance with Rule 5550(a)(2). On June 27, 2023, the Company filed for an extension to this deadline and the Nasdaq has determined that the Company is eligible for an additional 180 calendar day period, or until December 26, 2023, to regain compliance. If at any time before December 26, 2023, the bid price of our Common Shares closes at $1.00 per share or more for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days, the Nasdaq will provide written confirmation that we have regained compliance. Our common shares may be de-listed if we do not regain compliance with Rule 5550(a)(2) by June 27, 2023 and our shareholders could face significant material adverse consequences, including: - Limited availability or market quotations for our common shares;- Reduced liquidity of our common shares;- Determination that our common shared are "penny stock", which would require brokers trading in our common shares to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our common shares;- Limited amount of news an analysts' coverage of us; and - Decreased ability for us to issue additional equity securities or obtain additional equity or debt financing in the future. In the event of a de-listing, however, we would take actions to restore our compliance with Nasdaq Marketplace Rules, but we can provide no assurances that the listing of our Common Shares would be restored, that our Common Shares will remain above the Nasdaq minimum bid price requirement or that we otherwise will remain in compliance with the Nasdaq Marketplace Rules.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 9The issuance and sale of common shares upon exercise of outstanding warrants may cause substantial dilution to existing shareholders and may also depress the market price of our common shares. Outstanding warrants to purchase shares of our common stock have cashless exercise rights.
As at March 31, 2023, the Company had a total of 12,197,665 warrants outstanding, representing 101.7% of the common shares issued at that date. If the holders of the warrants choose to exercise the warrants, it will cause substantial dilution to the holders of our common shares. If exercises of the warrants and sales of such shares issuable upon exercise thereof take place, the price of our common shares may decline. In addition, the common shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants may represent overhang that may also adversely affect the market price of our common shares. Overhang occurs when there is a greater supply of a company's stock in the market than there is demand for that stock. When this happens the price of our common shares may decrease, and any additional shares which shareholders attempt to sell in the market will only further decrease the share price. If the share volume of our common shares cannot absorb shares sold by the warrant holders, then the value of our common shares will likely decrease. Certain of the warrants discussed above allow for cashless exercise rights. In a ‘cashless exercise', the holder reduces the number of shares of common shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants in amount equal to the aggregate value of the exercise price of the exercised warrants. For example, if our common shares were trading at $10 per share and a holder desires to exercise warrants to purchase 100 common shares with an exercise price of $1.00 per share on a cashless basis, the number of common shares issuable to the holder upon such exercise would be reduced by 10 shares, equal in value to $100 ($10 per share x 10 shares), and the holder would receive 90 common shares upon such exercise. We do not receive any cash upon a cashless exercise and as such, while a cashless exercise reduces the dilution which would otherwise exist upon a warrant exercise, it is also not as beneficial to us, as it does not bring in any new investment proceeds. Additionally, holders of warrants with cashless exercise provisions may be more likely to exercise their warrants as they do not have to come out of pocket with any cash exercise payments.
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