Arqit Quantum Inc.

Investigation
04/18/2022

Initial Lawsuit
05/06/2022

Lawsuit Progression
07/05/2022

Investigation

Continous Holding
September 7, 2021 to April 18, 2022
Proposed Claim
Securities Violation

Investors investigation focused on discrepancies between statements made by Arqit and The Wall Street Journal article describing management’s “overly optimistic view”, citing documents and interviews with former staff.

Main Event

WSJ Reports "Overly Optimistic View"

04/18/2022

News Outlets

The Wall Street Journal publishes an article entitled “British Encryption Startup Arqit Overstates Its Prospects, Former Staff and Others Say” following interviews with former employees and other people familiar with the company, and documents. The article describes how the company has given investors “an overly optimistic view” of its prospects, growth and readiness of its technology.

“In April 2021, Arqit’s chief revenue officer resigned after raising concerns with Mr. Williams that he was overstating contracts and giving unrealistic revenue projections to potential investors, people familiar with the matter said. Several other former employees said they had similar concerns about both the business model and the maturity of the technology, prompting them to also leave since then . . .”

“The people familiar with the matter said that the bulk of the company’s committed revenue isn’t from selling its product and that at its public launch, the company had little more than an early-stage prototype of its encryption system. Several clients the company lists—including a number of British government agencies—are simply giving Arqit research grants, nonbinding memorandums of understanding or research agreements that come with no funding, not contracts for its encryption product, they said.”

The stock impact compares the closing price immediately preceding the date of the event and the following closing price. The price difference also reflects the overall mix of information.

Stock Impact

Close	Previous close	Price variation	Percentage variation
$12.49	$15.06	$-2.57	-17.07%

See more on Factual Timeline

Initial Lawsuit

First Complaint - 05/06/2022

This is a class action on behalf of: (i) all persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired Arqit securities between September 7, 2021 and April 18, 2022, inclusive; and/or (ii) all holders of Centricus securities as of the record date for the special meeting of shareholders held on August 31, 2021 to consider approval of the merger between Arqit and Centricus and entitled to vote on the Merger.

Filing Date
05/06/2022
Class Period
09/07/2021 to 04/18/2022
Transgression
Securities Violation
Filing Firms
The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.
Case Title
Glick v. Arqit Quantum Inc. et al
Docket Number
1:22-cv-02604
Court
New York Eastern District Court
Free File
Complaint

Allegations

According to the complaint, defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the company’s business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, defendants allegedly failed to disclose to investors that:

(1) Arqit’s proposed encryption technology would require wide spread adoption of new protocols and standards of for telecommunications;
(2) British cybersecurity officials questioned the viability of Arqit’s proposed encryption technology in a meeting in 2020;
(3) the British government was not an Arqit customer but, rather, providing grants to Arqit;
(4) Arqit had little more than an early-stage prototype of its encryption system at the time of the merger between Arqit and Centricus; and
(5) as a result, defendants’ statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.