Come on, it´s not easy to grow a company. Aquaculture, stevia or hemp, all these are difficult markets at the moment.
Of course he lies, should he say the truth? With this motivation, you don´t need to start a new business! xD
Yeah, he promissed too much, to much for his small company. Now they had a flooding demage last year, and so it´t logically he doesn´t publish the financials.