Nufarm's full-year profit results, released this week, “make grim reading for investors and confirm our opinion that a shareholder class action should succeed", said Ben Slade, NSW principal of Maurice Blackburn.

"Our investigations are well advanced and the results provide further evidence to support our clients' claims that the company had no reasonable basis for forecasts made earlier this year and that it contravened its continuous disclosure obligations by failing to tell the market about the disastrous state of the glyphosate market."

The class action claim will centre on Nufarm's profit forecast for 2010 and Nufarm's actual or constructive knowledge of the trends in the international glyphosate market.

Nufarm is an Australian-based business that produces and supplies agricultural chemicals throughout the world.

Nufarm's 2 March 2010 profit forecast was reaffirmed in late March and again in documents for its capital raising on 20 April 2010, Maurice Blackburn said in a statement.

Ben Slade said this week: "On 2 March 2010 and on each day until 14 July 2010 Nufarm knew or ought to have known that it could not achieve its profit forecast. Not only did Nufarm get it wrong on 2 March, it repeated the misleading profit forecast in support of a $250m capital raising on 20 April 2010.

“It was well-publicised that the glyphosate market was changing rapidly and in particular Chinese generic product competition was impacting on Nufarm's market share. Nufarm appears to have disregarded these signals in maintaining its ambitious forecast results up until 14 July 2010.

“There is a good claim for compensation against Nufarm for those shareholders who purchased and held Nufarm shares between 2 March 2010 and 13 July 2010,” Slade said.

"Investors are only able to make informed decisions regarding their share purchases when listed companies adhere to their disclosure obligations," he said.

International Litigation Partners proposes to fund the claim on behalf of shareholders against Nufarm.