Audit, forensic analysis and now, a new legal opinion and debt map. Eidf Solar, the industrial installations firm for renewable self-consumption, continues to commission reports from large firms to try to stop the bleeding on the Stock Market, which has caused it to lose almost 90% of its value since Monday. In a statement sent this Friday afternoon to the media, the company chaired by Fernando Romero says that the 2022 annual accounts, which it had to correct at the request of the auditor, “reflect the true image of the group” and are a sign of “all adjustments derived from the forensic analysis that preceded its formulation by the board of directors.”
These adjustments would be limited to an amount “less than two million euros of income, basically due to the different consideration of the degree of progress of some works.” What the note does not mention is anything regarding the indications that the investigators found about situations “in which documents would have been created, modified or falsified.” On the other hand, it highlights that, “in the interest of greater transparency”, it has commissioned a professional firm “of recognized international prestige” to prepare a legal opinion derived from the forensic report. This report is a message to the media: it would aim to analyze “the statements that have been made in the media in recent days,” as the company later clarified.
Debt
In the information, the company states that the debt it would have at this time, according to calculations extracted from the 2022 financial information seasoned with various events in 2023, amounts to 28 million in the short term and 44 million in the long term, although it is impossible to contrast such information because the firm has not presented the data corresponding to the first semester to the market. “The company informs that, to avoid any doubt about its indebtedness, it has commissioned a comprehensive map of its updated debt prepared, jointly with KPMG, which will be made public once finalized,” probably next week. The debt, Eidf continues, is related “to its assets, these covering, by multiples, the debt.” On the other hand, the Galician company states that it has no intention of selling any assets that fall within its long-term strategic plan, “except those that are not part of the main axis of the activity (…) and asset rotations may always be generated. that offer profitability.”
Regarding daily operations, Fernando Romero continues to carry out his duties as president and CEO and there are, at the moment, no plans to adjust the workforce, which is made up of about 200 people. “In fact, in the current year the workforce has increased by 6% compared to the previous year, and during the period of suspension of trading the company has made additions for certain positions.” The company does not say anything, however, about its announced intention to hire a new CEO.
Irregularities
The capitalization of Eidf Solar, present in the BME Growth, went this week from 1,721 million to only 225. After four months suspended for not presenting the audited annual accounts for 2022, the company communicated to the market a balance sheet in which it presented a fund of negative maneuver for more than 20 million due to asset purchases, non-compliance with financial ratios with one of its financiers, the issuance of short-term promissory notes to finance long-term investments and the development of parks.
The CNMV made public, against the will of the company, selected parts of the forensic report to which it was forced to submit when the scandal began, carried out by Deloitte. The Galician company refused to make it known, and in its refusal it stated that it would defend itself in court against the possible consequences of the publication of the forensics. Among other things, the report spoke of situations “in which documents had been created, modified or falsified” in operations with third parties. With three of the four partners who were analyzed, the investigations found “evidence of possible falsification of contracts and documents prepared by those responsible for the company, in order to justify the lack of control over the SPVs.” SPVs or Special Puppose Vehicles are companies established with the sole purpose of being a vehicle for investment in renewable energy projects. In today’s letter to the media, the company says that the decision to consolidate the results of the SPVs in its accounting was its own, and not that of the forensic investigation.
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