Eurofins denies short seller Muddy Waters' allegations after share fall

(Reuters) -Lab testing firm Eurofins on Tuesday rejected allegations made a day earlier by short seller Muddy Waters which questioned its financial reporting and hit its shares, saying it was confident in its accounts and operations.

Muddy Waters said on Monday it had taken a short position in Eurofins shares and published a report saying Eurofins' financial statements could contain material overstatements of profits, cash balances and other asset values.

"It is Eurofins' view that the entirety of allegations and insinuations contained therein is either inaccurate, irrelevant, biased and/or misleading," the firm said in a statement.

Eurofins "is completely confident in the integrity of its accounts, operational performance, internal controls and risk management", it said.

Eurofins, founded in 1987 by current CEO Gilles Martin, offers lab testing services for industries such as pharmaceutical, food and cosmetics and received a boost during the pandemic.

Responding to one allegation in the short seller's report, Eurofins said that all real estate transactions with related parties were done "at arm's length terms" and "all buildings were paid for by their owner".

The company added that its cash amounts were audited at both local and consolidated levels with all required communication between accounting teams and auditors.

It said it would issue a detailed response "in due course" and that it would work together with its auditors to prepare further analyses as required.

Eurofins shares, which shed as much as 25% on Monday, were up 4.7% to 46.3 euros as of 0730 GMT on Tuesday.

They had closed at 52.7 euros on Friday ahead of the Muddy Waters report.

(Reporting by Olivier Sorgho; editing by Kim Coghill and Jason Neely)