11:48 AM EST, 12/31/2024 (MT Newswires) -- An Archer-Daniels-Midland ( ADM ) investor called on Chief Executive Juan Luciano to step down over a lack of transparency about an investigation into the agriculture supply company's accounting issues.

Hartwig Fuchs said in a Monday post on LinkedIn that the company's stock was the "worst" in his portfolio this year. Year-to-date, the company's stock has declined 30%. Fuchs said there are no efforts from the company to stop or reverse the downward trend in the share price.

Fuchs is the former board chairman of German commodity trading firm Alfred C. Toepfer International, which was fully acquired by Archer-Daniels-Midland ( ADM ) in 2014.

"For almost a full year, we have known about an apparent widening law enforcement investigation into ADM's internal pricing of inter-company transactions," Fuchs said in the post. "We don't know much more because ADM doesn't communicate any valuable statements."

Archer-Daniels-Midland ( ADM ) didn't respond to a request for comment by MT Newswires.

In January, Archer-Daniels-Midland ( ADM ) placed its then-Chief Financial Officer Vikram Luthar on administrative leave amid an investigation into the company's accounting procedures related to the nutrition segment, including inter-segment transactions. In July, it announced the appointment of then 3M (MMM) CFO Monish Patolawala as its new finance chief, effective Aug. 1. Luthar resigned from the company, effective Sept. 30.

"If a highly paid CEO of such an important company cannot manage to provide clarity within a few months -- i.e. fully clear up the scandal, communicate with full transparency about what went wrong and what will be done in the future, regain investors trust and, above all, protect the company from long-term damage -- then he has to go," according to Fuchs.

In November, the company said it identified new errors related to intersegment sales, prompting it to restate financials for certain periods following dialogue with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Later the same month, Archer-Daniels-Midland ( ADM ) reported adjusted earnings of $1.09 per share for the third quarter, down from $1.63 the year before. Revenue declined to $19.94 billion from $21.7 billion.

Price: 50.52, Change: +0.45, Percent Change: +0.90