What happened
No reasonable investor wants to get involved in a falling-knife scenario, and that fear seemed to be driving down the shares of Azure Power Global (AZRE -13.04%) on Wednesday. Reeling from a clutch of big setbacks, the India-based green energy company saw its share price dive for the third day in a row, at a steep rate of almost 17%.
So what
Azure issued a new update on Wednesday, which was obviously intended to comfort investors but had the opposite effect.
In the document, the renewable energy specialist admirably addressed the difficulties plaguing it recently. The major ones are the recent revelation of a whistleblower complaint earlier this year, the delay in the company's annual report, and the abrupt departure of CEO Harsh Shah after serving a very short stint.
The most serious of the three is the whistleblower complaint, which Azure characterizes as involving "potential procedural irregularities and misconduct by certain employees." The company said its investigation revealed nonadherence to safety and quality standards, and that it has taken steps to resolve them.
What's less reassuring is Azure's admission of discovering "evidence of the manipulation of project data and information by certain employees," although it also says it is undertaking measures to mitigate the problem.
Now what
Meanwhile, Azure also admitted that it does not have a timetable for the delivery of its annual report. This is a basic function of publicly traded companies, so investors are justifiably worried that this indicates a high degree of dysfunction.
Azure insisted in the document that its underlying business is still solid, pointing out that it's operating in accordance with its budgets and strategy. It also says it's very liquid and busy taking care of its debt obligations. But it's going to have to produce some concrete results to convince the market that it's really moving past at least one of these major difficulties.
