MADRID, 29 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Grifols shares sank 34.93% this Thursday in the worst session on the Stock Market in its history, placing the share at 7.584 euros, the lowest in March 2012, after having held its meeting with analysts on the day of the publication of its annual accounts, which have not yet been audited by KPMG.
Grifols has opened this session, upon knowing the results, with a drop of more than 6% and its shares trading at a price of 10,865 euros; However, the declines have intensified with special virulence in the last part of the negotiation, when investors digested the meeting with analysts, and thus the action subtracted four euros compared to yesterday’s closing data, until reaching the aforementioned 7,594 euros.
So far this year, Grifols has lost half of its capitalization – specifically, it has accumulated a stock market drop of 50.93% – so at the close of this Thursday its stock market value stood at around 4.5 billion , far from the almost 10,000 with which 2023 closed.
The share has pierced the lows of January 19 – then the price stood at 8.368 euros -, when the share was already affected by the report on January 9 from Gotham City Research that accused the Catalan company of making up its accounts, and has fallen to levels not seen in more than a decade, until March 2012.
The firm, which has presented its unaudited results, has assured that “it has received written confirmation from KPMG that it expects to complete its internal procedures and issue its audit opinion before March 8, 2024, ahead of the deadline of the current Spanish legislation”.
Likewise, Jaime Costos, current member of the board of directors of Grifols, has not signed the annual accounts published this Thursday by the blood products company as he was absent “for personal reasons” at the board of directors meeting held yesterday in Barcelona.
However, the company has assured that Costos has not expressed “disagreement or opposition with the documentation sent”, as stated in the company’s annual report sent to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).
“The condensed interim consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with IFRS and approved by Grifols’ board of directors,” according to the company.
The blood products firm has announced in its meeting with analysts that the executive president and CEO of Grifols, Thomas Glanzmann, will become non-executive president of the company from 2025.
Glanzmann explained that this change is “in line with good governance practices” and that during this year he will work hand in hand with Nacho Abia, who will assume the position of CEO of the company as of April 1.
He added that as part of the work to improve the company’s governance, they will implement “relevant improvements whenever necessary.”
“We will simplify structures and will not carry out any new transactions with related parties,” he said in reference to Scranton and the doubts expressed by Gotham City Research about the relationship between both companies.
Grifols obtained a profit of 59.3 million euros in 2023, which represents a decrease of 71.5% compared to the profits of 208.3 million recorded in the previous year, while recording record income of 6,592 million, 8.7% more.
The Catalan firm, which has achieved a positive profit and reduction in leverage, has highlighted that its net profits include “non-recurring items worth 147 million euros related, mainly, to restructuring costs”, as they have explained to Europe Press company sources.
