The pharmaceutical group Grifols has sent to the CNMV an extension of its financial information that raises the debt ratio: it goes from 6.3 times the operating profit or ebitda that it initially reported to 8.4 times, and places the debt net total on the balance sheet in 10,527 million euros.
The additional information sent by the company raises the debt on which the ratio is calculated to 1,111 million euros, because it takes into account the rental commitments of its buildings, which it did not previously include.
Grifols, in addition, reduces the operating profit or ebitda by 234 million, to now exclude from the calculation the impact of the restructuring program, which will materialize in cost savings from this financial year.
The Catalan group thus complies with the requirement of the National Securities Market Commission, which on March 21 asked it to expand the information it provides to investors on alternative performance measures and on its net financial debts.
The regulator warned of “deficiencies” in the financial information provided by the group, but did not consider them relevant enough to require a reformulation of its accounts and only asked for more transparency.
The rent commitments, as well as the explanation that the restructuring had not yet increased profit in 2023, were already included in the company’s accounts, but this was not the case in the ebitda it published, which it described as ” adjusted ebitda”. According to the company, in the calculation of the operating profit it published, it followed the criteria it agreed with its creditor entities.
“To be consistent with the information provided in previous periods, Grifols will continue to report its debt ratio according to the criteria of the credit agreement,” the company said in a statement. The company also assured that “it undertakes to fully comply with the guidelines and recommendations of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the CNMV”.
The main accounting adjustment that Grifols has made at the request of the regulator is to count as debt the financial leases or leases that it pays for the rent of its plasma donation centers. Although it is not a financial debt, as it is a commitment to pay, accounting regulations require that they be included as debt on the balance sheet.
Grifols also details the impact on the debt and on the operating profit or ebitda of two companies that own plasma centers, BPC and Haema, which are 100% owned by Scranton, a company linked to the founding family, but which consolidates because has a purchase option there and manages them. It also details the impact of its diagnostics subsidiary GDS, in which it owns 66%, and the German subsidiary Biotest, in which it controls 70%.
Applying the criteria requested by the CNMV, the company has recalculated the operating profit or ebitda of these companies, which is reduced from 242 to 137 million euros. With the consolidation and internal compensation of assets and liabilities, these companies reduced the group’s overall debt by 428 million euros, a reduction that with the new criteria will be 289 million.
