The Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd (ASX: VUL) share price has kicked off the week on a sour note.
At the time of writing, shares in the zero carbon lithium developer are trading 8.45% lower to $11.38. This only adds to the selling pressure witnessed since the release of J Capital's unflattering report towards the end of October.
Unfortunately for shareholders, the waning sentiment for Vulcan shares has continued as the J Capital saga rages on.
Let's take a look at the latest developments.
PR peddling overtime
For a bit of back story — short-seller group, J Capital published its insights into Vulcan Energy back in October. It goes without saying that its conclusions were less than optimistic for Vulcan's outlook. Among other things, J Capital alleged the company's pre-feasibility study was misleading.
Unsurprisingly, the claims from the activist short group ruffled the feathers of the green energy hopeful. So then Vulcan dished out some dirt on J Capital in a response posted to the ASX. The squabble appears to have not done much in favour of the Vulcan Energy share price — falling 9.2% lower since the beginning of November.
Meanwhile, the latest revelations come via a story published by The Australian Financial Review this morning. According to the article, Vulcan has been pouring some dollars into a torrent of public relations (PR) materials.
Firstly, it's important to note that it is not uncommon for companies to spend on boosting PR. However, the timing and circumstances surrounding some published material have drawn more attention, possibly not in the way Vulcan Energy had hoped for.
The conflicted nature of this particular scenario was described in the AFR as follows:
Vulcan uses the services of S3 Consortium — which owns more than 600,000 Vulcan shares — to publish positively slanted marketing that has the appearance of financial advice.
Additionally, the journalists at the respected publication noted they had received requests from a senior Vulcan employee to produce negatively skewed content regard J Capital after the short report had landed.
Grey cloud over Vulcan Energy share price
Only a couple of months prior the market was reeling with optimism towards the Vulcan Energy share price. Even today, the company's shares are up 662% over the last 12 months — which would place it among some of the best performers on the ASX during that time.
However, much like those that have borne the brunt of J Capital's short end of the stick before — including Nearmap Ltd (ASX: NEA) and WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) — Vulcan will likely need to win back the sentiment of shareholders by executing on its mission.
