(News Bulletin 247) – As expected, the SES-imagotag share collapsed on Friday when it resumed trading on the Paris Stock Exchange following accusations from the activist fund Gotham City Research, relating in particular to its financial statements.

The title, whose quotation had been suspended since Wednesday evening, was reserved for 45 minutes before opening down nearly 46%. It further accentuated its decline to yield 54% around 10:50 am.

In a press release published last night, the specialist in electronic labels for physical commerce had denounced the “many gross inaccuracies and/or misunderstandings” of the Gotham report.

The group said it intends to respond to it in the coming days.

In the meantime, he notes that the auditors have issued unqualified audit reports on his 2022, 2021 and 2020 annual financial statements.

SES-imagotag also recalls that Gotham City Research holds short positions, which means that the American fund has every interest in seeing the share price fall.

In a reaction note released in the morning, Stifel analysts reaffirmed their advice to buy SES-imagotag shares, with an unchanged price target of 190 euros.

The research department continues to believe that the group’s strategy and business model remain “fully relevant”, but admits that it is not in a position to comment on the suspicions of accounting irregularities raised by Gotham.

‘We are not the auditors of the group. Therefore, in the absence of other information, we assume that the accounts certified by the auditors are accurate,” Stifel said.

In its vitriolic report published yesterday morning, Gotham questioned the group’s business model and the quality of its results.

The short-selling fund says it is particularly concerned about the quality of the results, saying the company’s accounts are “materially misleading, incorrect and deficient”.

Following these attacks, SES-imagotag has declared that it reserves the right to take the matter to court.

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