BARCELONA (Reuters) - Shares of Spanish drugmaker Grifols rose more than 16% on Friday morning after it said auditor KPMG approved its 2023 results with an unqualified opinion, without modifying the profit and debt ratio previously reported.
Grifols last week published its 2023 results, pending an audit, which analysts said contributed to the share price's tumbling along with doubts about its cash flow for 2024.
Since early January, a report by short-seller fund Gotham City Research that questioned Grifols' accounting and debt ratio has cast doubts about the company's business and wiped off billions of euros in market value.
On its audited results on Friday, Grifols said it now includes the integration of a junior venture with firm ImmunoTek, a deal to develop 28 plasma collection centres signed 2021.
The deal with ImmunoTek was in the spotlight after Grifols said last week it would impact its free cash flow in 2024 by 415 million euros. Without it, Grifols said cash flow would increase by close to 500 million euros ($546.80 million) to approximately 900 euros million.
On Friday, Grifols told market supervisor CNMV that including ImmunoTek did not prompt any significant change in its results: "This integration does not impact the profit and loss account, nor a material impact on key metrics including leverage ratio or cash flow".
Grifols reported a 72% plunge in 2023 profit, down to 59 million euros ($64.59 million) due to the impact of its restructuring costs. It lowered its debt-to-EBITDA ratio to 6.3 times at the end of 2023 from 6.7 times in the third quarter.
($1 = 0.9134 euros)