Short Seller Accuses Oat Milk Producer Oatly Of Falsifying Revenue, Greenwashing

What Happened: Short-selling asset management firm Spruce Point Capital Management has accused Oatly Group OTLY of falsifying its revenue and margins alongside greenwashing investors.

An Oatly spokesperson said of the Spruce Point Report that “Oatly rejects all these false claims by the short seller and stands behind all activities and financial reporting,” adding that Spruce Point was “making false and misleading claims regarding the company.”

Why This Matters: The claims by Spruce Point of greenwashing, defined as the misleading of information regarding environmental sustainability, are quite damaging to a company whose main product is a more eco-friendly alternative to cow milk, oat milk.

Spruce Point went further by accusing the company of falsifying revenue reports in a recent investor presentation.

The presentation claimed in 2018, U.S. revenue was $12 million, despite the previous report of only $6 million by Nielsen and Umgas Magazine, a Swedish news company.

For reference, Oatly was founded in Sweden in the 1990s but didn’t make its mark in the U.S. until 2016.

OTLY Price Action: Shares of Oatly were trading at $20.49 at press time, down 3.03% on the day.

Earlier in the day, the share price reached an all-time low at $19.62.

Oatly went public in late May with a valuation of $13 billion and has all-time stock price highs of $29 per share.