FEW in the market might remember this, but when research firm and self-proclaimed whistle-blower Iceberg Research first took aim at commodities firm Noble Group back in February 2015, Noble's shares traded at S$1.20 apiece versus Iceberg's target price of S$0.10, a level that many dismissed as pure fantasy at the time.

Fast forward 27 months and after adjusting for Noble's recent 10-to-1 share consolidation, the current comparable price is S$0.0695, way below Iceberg's S$0.10 target. The loss to shareholders, in the meantime, has been an astonishing 94 per cent.

Many in the market have therefore quietly acknowledged that even if Iceberg's accounting claims have not been conclusively verified and even taking into account that commodity prices have been weak in the interim, the fact that Iceberg's forecast price has been reached indicates that it is not a fly-by-night operator.