Soltec shares fell more than 5% on the stock market at mid-morning after opening the session with a drop of 14%. The company announced on Monday night that it has been forced to restate its 2023 accounts due to differences with its auditor, EY (Ernst
The shares have been slowing their initial collapse as the company’s directors tried to explain the situation in a conference with investors, why EY has forced them to reformulate the accounts presented last February.
Then the company had recognized a profit of 11.7 million euros in 2023, 14% less than the 13.1 million obtained the previous year and consolidated income of 587.2 million euros, 3% more.
After reviewing these accounts, EY auditors have applied, according to Soltec’s explanations, “a different temporal criterion for recognizing income, and what were a profit of 11.7 million euros has been transformed into losses of 23 .4 million and income of 395 million euros.
Soltec, which claims to “not share the auditor’s criteria,” has chosen to accept the requested adjustments, as it understands that this “is the most beneficial option to safeguard the interest of the company and its stakeholders,” as it explained this Tuesday. to analysts.
The company has insisted that “it is only a financial problem” and that “it will have no impact” for the group since its net financial debt remains in the same situation.
In addition, they estimated that sales figures in the tracker business will be higher for this year due to the recognition of those revenues for this year, although they indicated that they will provide more details of the group’s guidance “in a few months.”
The solar panel manufacturer published its 2023 results on February 28 – after approval by the board of directors, following a favorable report from the audit committee -, including the aforementioned income and expenses.
In a statement, the company indicated that the auditor informed the board and the audit committee at that time that said results, even without having completed the audit process, would not have material changes.
Subsequently, Soltec added that EY expressed its disagreement with respect to the accounting recognition in fiscal year 2023 of income related to 36 contracts for the supply of solar trackers carried out by the company under the bill and hold modality, with contracts that allow the seller to recognize the income. for goods sold to a buyer, while deferring physical delivery until a later date.
These contracts amount to 192 million euros, which the company does not record in the accounts prepared this Monday, but were recognized in the results reported in February. However, the firm indicates that the income that has not been recognized in 2023 will be recognized for accounting purposes in 2024.
