and there was no breach of misleading conduct or continuous disclosure rules.
On October 9, 2013, Worley advised that its first-half earnings would be lower but stuck to the full-year guidance. On November 20, it said it expected to report underlying NPAT for FY2014 in the range of $260 million to $300 million.Shares in Worley – then called Worley Parsons – tumbled 26 per cent on that day, wiping more than $1 billion off its market value. The final NPAT for FY2014 was $249.1 million.
Justice Jagot and Justice Murphy said the key issue was whether Worley had reasonable grounds for the FY14 earnings guidance in August. “The primary judge [Justice Gleeson] appears to have been looking in the Holt memorandum for an express statement that the budget process used by Worley in FY14 was unreliable.