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Headquarters of the leasing specialist Grenke in Baden-Baden
Photo: Uli Deck / dpa
It's like passing the TÜV test: The leasing specialist Grenke, who has been criticized for his accounting, has received the long-awaited unqualified certificate for his 2020 consolidated financial statements from the auditing company KPMG.
The audit report was delayed a long time due to the detailed examination of the books and thus even resulted in Grenke's expulsion from the SDax index of small values - because of a rule violation.
Investors reacted with relief on Tuesday: The share price made a big jump up in the morning after the hanging game had previously weighed on the mood.
Shortly after the start of trading, the share rose by more than 19 percent and was most recently still 15.83 percent up at 37.60 euros.
"The unqualified certificate is positive," said the Commerzbank experts in the morning.
However, the fall in price that was triggered last autumn by criticism from stock market speculators has not yet been resolved for the long term.
At that time, the rate was still around 55 euros and dropped below 25 euros within a few days.
The British investor Fraser Perring had made serious allegations about the balance sheet and business conduct of the Grenke company last September.
Perring caused a stir in Germany for the first time in 2016 when he accused the now collapsed Wirecard Group of fraud, money laundering and falsification of accounts - and at the same time speculated on falling prices.
The financial regulator is still checking
"With the unqualified certificate we will regain trust," said Grenke boss Antje Leminsky.
Perring's allegations had sent the stock plummeting.
As a result, Grenke commissioned several reviews of its business.
In addition, the company had to undergo a special audit by the financial supervisory authority Bafin.
This has not yet been formally concluded.
Leminsky has already announced that the drafts of the report would only have to be coordinated between the Bafin and the authorized auditor Mazars.
According to an interim report in February, the company saw itself partially relieved.
However, the investigations that had been initiated had also uncovered deficiencies, and the then responsible Group Management Board member, Mark Kindermann, vacated his post.
In the meantime, Grenke has reorganized the responsibilities and with Isabel Rösler has her own head of risk on board, the internal auditing is now in the hands of the head of the company, Leminsky.
The treatment and ownership structure of franchise companies abroad was particularly criticized.
Grenke has started to take over the companies completely and to consolidate them in its own figures.
Grenke wants to pay its shareholders a surprisingly significantly lower dividend for 2020 than before.
The company announced that 26 cents per share were planned.
A year earlier it was 80 cents.
This time, analysts had expected an average of 71 cents.
With the payout ratio of around 14 percent of consolidated profit, Grenke is also well below the range of 25 to 30 percent maintained in recent years.
Pandemic weighs on business
"We have taken into account both the special situation in 2020 and a healthy capital base for our long-term growth," said CFO Sebastian Hirsch.
"I am convinced that we will be able to return to our previous payout level in the short term."
The consolidated profit after taxes for the past year was according to the information at 88.4 million euros - 8.5 million euros more than announced in the preliminary figures.
The leasing service provider justified this with a correction of the risk provision in the previous year.
He had indicated this possibility before.
Meanwhile, the corona pandemic and the costs of the special audits weighed on profits.
Grenke offers mainly small and medium-sized companies the financing of, among other things, office equipment and the pre-financing of receivables.
Among other things, the slump in gastronomy and tourism in southern Europe weighed on business.
The company plans to present its 2020 annual report this Friday (May 21).
beb / dpa
