If I hear the name Viceroy Research, I immediately think of Steinhoff and Capitec.

Viceroy is the New York-based short seller behind the damning allegations against two of South Africa’s more well-known businesses, and as their infamy grows so too does the microscope under which their practices are examined.

Recently they’ve dealt Steinhoff a blow from which it may never recover, and at the moment Capitec and themselves are still engaged in a nasty back and forth.

Those aren’t the only two companies that they’ve targeted, and their success rate is actually something of a mixed bag.

According to Bloomberg, it’s a little hit and miss:

Of the seven companies it has targeted, two have seen their share prices rise, three have declined, one was suspended, and another was bought seven weeks after the outfit called it a lemon. Viceroy’s assertions after Steinhoff International Holdings NV admitted to accounting irregularities must be tested, while Capitec Bank Holdings Ltd. has come out fighting, with the South African lender saying the three-man team got many facts wrong.

Here are the five available share prices:

If their Capitec antics are exposed as factually incorrect, you can bet that any future reports will have a significantly reduced impact on the share prices of the company in question.

On the flip side, the past few months have shown us that share owners become very skittish at the mere mention of Viceroy’s name.

I suppose we will just have to wait and see.

[source:bloomberg]