Monday, February 11, 2008

Sherwin Williams Glosses Over Details

Sherwin Williams (SHW) signed an agreement to acquire the liquid coatings subsidiaries of Inchem Holdings Asia (SGX:ICHM). Christopher M. Connor, Chairman and CEO of The Sherwin-Williams Company, said “this acquisition reaffirms our commitment to growing globally through organic growth accelerated by strategically important acquisitions.”

OK this sounds important and really good. So if its worthy of a press release to comply with regulatory disclosure requirements why not provide the details. Things like purchase price and terms and conditions if any should be disclosed. Investors who like to focus on earnings per share would most likely appreciated substantive information on the financial aspects of the acquisition. Management even neglected to provide comment as to if the acquisition would be accretive and when.

Global expansion is great but reports which focus only on which flag has been captured without the financial backup are inadequate.