SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed in the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers or acquirers of Restaurant Brands International Inc. (NYSE:QSR) common stock between April 29, 2019 and October 28, 2019, inclusive (the “Class Period”). The case is captioned Dorman v. Restaurant Brands International Inc., No. 20-cv-10788, and is assigned to Judge Valerie E. Caproni. The Restaurant Brands class action lawsuit charges Restaurant Brands and certain of its officers with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits any investor who purchased Restaurant Brands common stock during the Class Period to seek appointment as lead plaintiff in the Restaurant Brands class action lawsuit. A lead plaintiff is generally the movant with the greatest financial interest in the relief sought by the putative class who is also typical and adequate of the putative class. A lead plaintiff acts on behalf of all other class members in directing the Restaurant Brands class action lawsuit. The lead plaintiff can select a law firm of its choice to litigate the Restaurant Brands class action lawsuit. An investor’s ability to share in any potential future recovery of the Restaurant Brands class action lawsuit is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff of the Restaurant Brands class action lawsuit or have questions concerning your rights regarding the Restaurant Brands class action lawsuit, please provide your information here or contact counsel, J.C. Sanchez of Robbins Geller, at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058 or via e-mail at jsanchez@rgrdlaw.com. Lead plaintiff motions for the Restaurant Brands class action lawsuit must be filed with the court no later than February 19, 2021.
Restaurant Brands, a Canadian corporation headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is one of the world’s largest restaurant chains with over 27,000 Tim Hortons, Burger King, and Popeyes restaurants in more than 100 countries and U.S. territories as of December 31, 2019. On April 24, 2018, Restaurant Brands announced a new strategy designed to improve performance within Restaurant Brands’ Tim Hortons brand. Specifically, the “Winning Together Plan” would focus on three key pillars: restaurant experience, product excellence, and brand communications. On March 20, 2019, Restaurant Brands announced “Tims Rewards” – a new loyalty program for Tim Hortons customers in Canada. Under the Tims Rewards program, customers would be eligible for a free hot brewed coffee, hot tea, or baked good after every seventh paid visit to a participating Tim Hortons restaurant. On April 10, 2019, Restaurant Brands announced that it was expanding the Tims Rewards program to include customers in the United States.
On the heels of Restaurant Brands touting the benefits of these initiatives, Restaurant Brands completed two stock offerings on or about August 12, 2019 and September 5, 2019, collectively resulting in proceeds of approximately $3 billion to insiders.
The Restaurant Brands class action lawsuit alleges that, throughout the Class Period, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Restaurant Brands’ Winning Together Plan was failing to generate substantial, sustainable improvement within the Tim Hortons brand; (2) the Tims Rewards loyalty program was not generating sustainable revenue growth as increased customer traffic was not offsetting promotional discounting; and (3) as a result, defendants’ statements about Restaurant Brands’ business, operations, and prospects lacked a reasonable basis.
On October 28, 2019, mere weeks after the offerings were completed, investors learned the truth about Tim Hortons’ hyped growth initiatives when Restaurant Brands announced disappointing financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2019. Specifically, defendants acknowledged that “results at Tim Hortons were not where we want them to be with global comparable sales dipping into negative territory” and admitted that “discounting [associated with Tims Rewards] is slightly more than offsetting the traffic levels, which is causing a little bit of softness in sales.” On this news, the price of Restaurant Brands common stock declined approximately 4%, damaging investors.
Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is one of the world’s leading law firms representing investors in securities class action litigation. With 200 lawyers in 9 offices, Robbins Geller has obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history. For seven consecutive years, ISS Securities Class Action Services has ranked the Firm in its annual SCAS Top 50 Report as one of the top law firms in the world in both amount recovered for shareholders and total number of class action settlements. Robbins Geller attorneys have helped shape the securities laws and have recovered tens of billions of dollars on behalf of aggrieved victims. Beyond securing financial recoveries for defrauded investors, Robbins Geller also specializes in implementing corporate governance reforms, helping to improve the financial markets for investors worldwide. Robbins Geller attorneys are consistently recognized by courts, professional organizations, and the media as leading lawyers in the industry. Please visit http://www.rgrdlaw.com for more information.
