UPDATE 3-Wirecard says $2.1 billion in cash missing, faces loan crunch
* Shares collapse after failure to publish results
* Auditor EY has questions over 1.9 billion euros in cash
balances
* Creditors could call in loans as soon as Friday
(Adds fund manager, author of 2016 report critical of Wirecard)
By Douglas Busvine and Patricia Uhlig
BERLIN, June 18 (Reuters) - German payments company Wirecard
said that its auditor had refused to sign off on its
2019 accounts, sending its shares 60% lower on Thursday as it
warned the delay could cause billions in loans to be called in
as early as Friday.
Wirecard said auditor EY had informed it that sufficient
evidence could not be found for 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion)
in cash balances on trust accounts - or around a quarter of its
balance sheet total.
CEO Markus Braun said Wirecard was urgently seeking to
clarify the balances in question.
"It is currently unclear whether fraudulent transactions to
the detriment of Wirecard AG have occurred. Wirecard AG will
file a complaint against unknown persons," he said in a
statement.
Wirecard warned that a failure to provide certified annual
and consolidated statements by Friday would allow approximately
2 billion euros in loans to be terminated.
In-house auditor EY had regularly approved Wirecard's
accounts in recent years, and its refusal to sign off for 2019
provided dramatic confirmation of the failings highlighted in an
external probe by KPMG last month.
Its inability to finalise the 2019 financial year threatened
a debacle for the Munich-based fintech, which was founded in
1999 and rose to win promotion to Germany's blue-chip DAX index
in 2018.
The company has long been a target of short sellers who have
questioned its financials. They responded by sending Wirecard's
shares down by 60% in Frankfurt trading, wiping 8 billion euros
off its market worth.
"We are stunned," said Ingo Speich, head of corporate
governance at $350 billion fund manager Deka Investment, which
owns Wirecard stock.
Speich called for heads to roll: "A new start is now more
urgent than ever. We hope that the market's loss of confidence
will not have an impact on its business operations."
UNVERIFIABLE RESULTS
Wirecard had already delayed its annual report following
last month's report by KPMG that addressed allegations of fraud
and false accounting in a series of investigative reports by the
Financial Times. [nL5N2CG2Z1]
In the most serious finding in the report, covering the
years 2016-18, KPMG said it had been unable to verify the
existence of 1 billion euros in revenue Wirecard booked through
its third-party acquiring partners. [nL5N2CG2UX]
Activist investors, led by British fund manager Chris Hohn,
seized on the KPMG audit to demand the head of Wirecard's CEO
Markus Braun. Hohn followed up by filing a criminal complaint
with the Munich prosecutor. [nL8N2D14BA]
German financial watchdog Bafin, which had previously
suspected short sellers of colluding to manipulate Wirecard's
share price, has shifted its attention to the company and
launched multiple investigations. [nL8N2CU3K6]
Prosecutors raided Wirecard's headquarters in a Munich
suburb on June 5 and opened proceedings against the company's
entire management board as part of the market manipulation probe
that was initiated by Bafin. [nL8N2DI4SA]
Wirecard has said it was cooperating with the investigation
and the allegations against it were unfounded. [nL8N2DK0HY]
"Today is a partial vindication for myself and other
critics," said Fraser Perrin, co-author of a bearish report on
Wirecard by Zatarra Research in 2016.
"Wirecard appear to suggest in their media releases that
they are innocent. The prosecutors need to act decisively to
make those at fault accountable."
($1 = 0.8892 euros)
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
BREAKINGVIEWS-Wirecard scandal turns into an existential crisis
[nL8N2DV2L3]
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(Additional reporting by Thyagaraju Adinarayan in London
editing by Mark Potter and Keith Weir)
((douglas.busvine@tr.com; +49 30 220 133 562; Reuters
Messaging: douglas.busvine.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Rank : negative
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