Solutions 30 CEO asks for a few months to solve its problems

PARIS (Reuters) -Technology services company Solutions 30, whose shares have plummeted due to the double whammy of hedge fund Muddy Waters criticising its business practices and EY refusing to sign off its accounts, needs a few months to solve its problems, its CEO said on Wednesday.

Solutions 30 lost three quarters of its stock market value when it resumed trading on Monday after a two week suspension requested by the company, which was then under pressure from France’s financial regulator to publish its 2020 audited results.

In early trading on Wednesday, Solutions 30 share recouped some of the lost ground, gaining 11% to 3.10 euros, but that level is still more three times lower than its May 10 closing price of 10.38 euros.

“I want to tell all parties involved to give us a few extra months to solve our problems”, Solutions 30 CEO Gianbeppi Fortis told BFM Business.

“We are under attack, Monday and Tuesday have been horrid for our shareholders, we are fighting for the truth to be known”, he said.

Solutions 30, which has corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and shares listed in Paris, mainly installs new high tech electric meters and connects homes to fibre networks.

Fortis reiterated that the company had asked a Paris commercial court for help in finding a mediator to solve its row with EY and appointing new accountants.

Solutions 30 published its 2020 financial report on Sunday, but it included a disclaimer from EY, who said it could not sign off last year’s accounts.

The company was not seeing clients leave despite the turmoil, Fortis said, adding the business environment was good.

($1 = 0.8172 euros)