MADRID, 11 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Grifols shares fell more than 6% after 11:00 a.m. on a day in which the Catalan company will hold a conference call with investors with the aim of refuting Gotham City Research’s accusations and providing more details about the recent “false information.” ” and the “speculations” published by the bearish fund.
Specifically, the pharmaceutical company’s shares fell 6.52% at 11:02, until trading at a price of 11.03 euros, after closing yesterday with an advance of 12% and calming the markets with the announcement of legal actions against Gotham City Research “for the significant damage caused, both financial and reputational” to the company.
In this way, the company follows its ‘roadmap’ to try to dismantle point by point the arguments put forward by the bearish firm in its report.
Sabadell’s analysis department has positively valued the company’s clarifications regarding the information contained in its financial statements, as well as the consolidation and accounting criteria used and validated by its auditor.
They also consider positive that the report makes no mention of problems in the evolution of the underlying business or the generation of operating cash.
“We still do not find reasons to modify our valuation of Grifols (19.50 euros per share) as long as we are not certain that there are material errors or lack of veracity of the information reported,” Sabadell stated.
However, according to the entity, the seriousness of Gotham City Research’s accusations has weighed on the stock, especially due to the ESG angle.
The bearish fund published a report early Tuesday in which it accuses the pharmaceutical company of manipulating its debt ratios and gross operating profit (Ebitda) to artificially reduce leverage, for which it warns that its actions would be “not investable”.
After the publication of this report, the company’s shares fell by 42%, finally ending Tuesday’s session with a decline of 25.91%, which led it to leave 2.2 billion euros on the stock market.
Grifols has added that the report also harmed “all of its stakeholders” and that it caused, literally, great concern to its patients and donors.
The board of directors of Grifols has reaffirmed that it “fully supports” the CEO and executive president, Thomas Glanzmann, whom it has said has collaborated decisively in the growth and development of the company since his incorporation in 2006.
He also added that all the operations that were published in the Gotham City report “have been unanimously approved by the company’s board of directors and its various committees.”
Likewise, he said that the operations have “all the necessary supporting information and documentation, including evaluations and opinions of third parties.”
In this sense, he has criticized that the American firm questioned the price for the purchase of donor centers and has said that it is “difficult to understand if you do not have adequate information.”
“As with the purchase of any business, the price paid is not only the price of the assets, but also their ability to generate profits,” he added.
