NEW YORK-At least four class-action shareholder lawsuits were filed between June 25 and July 1 against Premiere Technologies Inc., an Atlanta-based company that provides enhanced services to paging and other telecommunications carriers.
In January 1997, Paging Network Inc. began offering Premiere Technologies’ WorldLink platform of enhanced telephony services, according to an April 1997 research report by The Robinson-Humphrey Co. Inc., Atlanta.
All four lawsuits against Premiere Technologies were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Three charge the company with violating between April 2, 1997, and June 10 certain sections of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The fourth defines the so-called class period from Feb. 3 through June 10.
“Because of the issuance of false and misleading statements and omissions about Premiere Technologies’ business and true financial condition, [its] common stock was artificially inflated during the class period,” said a June 26 announcement by the law firms of Chitwood & Harley and of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz L.L.P.
“The market price of [the company’s] stock plummeted from a class-period high of $32.18 per share to close June 10 at $10.37 … In late May, the company filed with the [Securities and Exchange Commission] the April sale of 300,000 shares by Premiere President Boland Jones at $32.13.”
Responding to this first complaint, Premiere Technologies issued a statement that it had reviewed the lawsuit, believes it to be without merit and will defend against it vigorously.
All four complaints were filed following Premiere Technologies’ June 10 announcement that it expected a second-quarter, after-tax loss between 7 cents per share and 10 cents per share.
Savett Frutkin Podell & Ryan P.C., a Philadelphia law firm representing one of the complainants, said in its announcement of a lawsuit filed July 1: “Plaintiff alleges … that defendants deceived the investing public by touting the purported synergies and economies created by the company’s aggressive acquisition program, in particular the acquisition of Voice-Tel Enterprises (a provider of digital voice-mail services), while knowing throughout the class period that [Premiere Technologies] had neither the systems nor management structure in place to integrate the new acquisitions.”
Premiere’s consolidated services include universal messaging, voice mail, fax mail, e-mail, screen-based messaging, follow-me single number services, text-to-speech, voice recognition and electronic billing.
