Arcimoto tumbles after Bonitas short

Arcimoto

23/03/2021 15:57

** Arcimoto Inc  FUV.O  shares down 7.04% at $15.59 after
hitting two-week low of $15.00
    ** Bonitas Research issued a short report https://www.bonitasresearch.com
 on the stock, alleging the maker of electric three-wheeled
vehicles lied to investors about its reported 'pre-orders' from
paying customers and disregarded safety concerns." 
    ** Bonitas said it reviewed in March of this year six
partnerships Arcimoto announced since 2018 and found that less
than 5% of the pre-orders were actually delivered
    ** The short seller also claims that FUV's largest customer,
named Arcimoto Key West, "is secretly owned and operated by
undisclosed related party insider FOD Capital, LLC" 
    ** FOD Capital was third largest shareholder of FUV as of
July 2020, according to Bonitas before selling 67% of its
holdings in the second half of the year
    ** Refinitiv data shows FOD owning 1.37% of FUV shares
outstanding as of Dec 31, 2020
    ** "We are definitely in the early days of delivering
vehicles to customers," said Mark Frohnmayer, Founder and CEO of
Arcimoto
    ** "As of our last public statement we had more than 4,800
(pre-orders) so we have delivered a very small fraction of those
pre-orders on the list. We are only presently delivering in four
states – Oregon, Washington, California and Florida – so we have
orders from all 50 states and around the world. This is all
stuff we have been very clear to the market and to our investors
about," said Frohnmayer
    ** "I don’t think the point of the report was to be
accurate, the point of the report was to drive profitability for
short sellers."
    ** On Feb 18, Bonitas issued a short thesis on Ageagle
Aerial Systems  UAVS.A , prompting a 36.4% decline on the day;
shares in UAVS have fallen nearly 18% since
    ** Hyliion Holdings  HYLN.N  was the subject of a Bonitas
short report on Oct 16, with shares down 4.5% for the day and
down an additional 52.4% since the report

 ((charles.mikolajczak@tr.com; @ChuckMik; Reuters Messaging:
charles.mikolajczak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))