Australia-Farm Dispute.

AUSTRALIA-FARM DISPUTE.

A dispute has broken out between cattle group Australian Agricultural Company and a disgruntled investor who alleges the company misrepresented the value of its gross assets by reporting inflated cattle numbers on its books.

The Australian Financial Review says the AAco has now launched a defamation claim against Perth businessman Don Fuller, who yesterday emailed more than 60 media outlets worldwide alleging the cattle numbers which represent about 31pc of the company’s gross assets, were not accurate.

The dispute goes to the valuation of AAco’s assets and is sensitive as it follows a sales process by Futuris Corp which last month offloaded its 43pc stake in the cattle company.

Mr Fuller, who is the proprietor of a Perth-registered company called Feed Converters, said he had led negotiations with AAco for an international group that had been interested in buying Futuris’s interest.

AAco chief executive Stephen Toms vehemently denied Mr Fuller’s claims.

"Any biological asset owned by the company has to be brought to account. We bring them to account," he told The Australian Financial Review.

"Ernst and Young are the auditors.

"There’s nothing untoward in any of that. It’s all perfectly justified in an accounting sense."

AAco yesterday released information to the Australian Stock Exchange detailing its cattle accounting regime, in which it said its closing cattle herd for December 2008 was 590,382.

Source: Australian Financial Review, March 27.