Darktrace boss Poppy Gustafsson hits back after short-seller attack
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Darktrace boss hits back at short-seller who insists cybersecurity firm is run with ‘supreme integrity’
Darktrace boss Poppy Gustafsson has hit back after being fiercely attacked by a short seller.
Shares hit a record low on Tuesday after Quintessential Capital Management said it was “highly skeptical” of the cybersecurity company’s financial statements and warned that the group may have “over-estimated” sales and profits.
But in a 1,200-word defense, Gustafsson said it was “important to refute unfounded inferences” and “repress in the strongest terms any suggestion that this is a company that is not run with the utmost integrity.”
That cheered investors, as did a £75m buyback, and the share rose 4.4 per cent, or 9.3 pence, to 219.5 pence.
Plans for the buyback were drawn up last week, but were accelerated after the broadside.
Defiant: Darktrace boss Poppy Gustafsson (pictured), who co-founded the company in 2013, said it would “embrace the scrutiny of the public markets”