James Hardie faces class action in Australia over financial performance disclosures

By Sherin Sunny and Sneha Kumar

June 9 (Reuters) - James Hardie has been served with a class action lawsuit in Australia alleging it failed to disclose adverse conditions in its North America business before it reported quarterly results and cut its annual forecast in August.

The class action filed by law firm Maurice Blackburn in Victoria seeks to recover shareholder losses after a downbeat first-quarter update and annual earnings downgrade on August 20, 2025 triggered a 34% drop in the fibre cement maker's share price over two days.

"The proceeding focuses on whether, prior to August 20, James Hardie failed to disclose adverse conditions affecting its North American Fibre Cement segment... and whether it should have corrected or withdrawn its FY26 earnings guidance earlier," the law firm said in a statement on Tuesday.

Maurice Blackburn has filed the lawsuit on behalf of unnamed investors who acquired interests in certain James Hardie securities between May 21 and August 19 last year.

Denying any liability, James Hardie said it is in compliance with its disclosure obligations.

Last May, James Hardie gave a cautious outlook for 2026, expecting only low single-digit growth in adjusted operating earnings due to softer volume growth in its biggest market, North American.

Shares of the company slipped as much as 3% to A$31.14 on Tuesday.

"Investors are likely to continue focusing on operational execution, the AZEK integration and the outlook for the U.S. housing market," said Greg Smith, an investment specialist with New Zealand-based wealth manager Generate KiwiSaver.

"The class action may weigh on sentiment at the margin, but I don't see it as the dominant issue for investors at this point."

James Hardie had announced the acquisition of U.S. outdoor products maker AZEK for $8.75 billion a year ago.

($1 = 1.4188 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Sherin Sunny and Sneha Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)