Sirtex Medical ticks up after Aussie court bars injunction

Sirtex Medical (ASX:SRX) said yesterday that Australia’s Federal Court denied a shareholders bid for an injunction barring its pending share buyback.

The shareholders lawsuit accuses Sirtex of breaching continuous disclosure obligations and engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct, alleging that its guidance for double-digit sales growth “has no reasonable grounds.”

Yesterday the Australian company said the Federal Court dismissal of the shareholders’ injunction bid frees it to begin a $22.4 million (A$30 million) share repurchasing plan June 7.

Sirtex, which last week appointed former Steris executive Andrew McClean to replace Gilman Wong as CEO after a probe into Wong’s share trading, earlier this month saw its shares prices tumble after a trial of its radioactive microspheres showed no survival improvement in patients with colorectal cancer and announced the departure of Americas CEO Kevin Richardson.

New of the lifted injunction sent SRX shares to their highest point since news of the trial broke May 17, to $9.12 (A$12.23), before sliding to an $8.90 (A$11.94) close Down Under, for a 0.8% gain on the day.

($1 = A$1.34027)