Gerresheimer’s Short Sellers Circle as June Deadline Looms for Audited Accounts

Short positions hit 11% as Gerresheimer battles an accounting scandal, BaFin probes, and shareholder lawsuits; a planned US unit sale aims to stabilize the pharma packager.

The battle lines around Gerresheimer are sharpening. While the share price has clawed back some ground from its February nadir, short sellers have piled in with a ferocity rarely seen in German equities. Open short positions now exceed 11 percent of the free float — a record level that signals deep skepticism about the pharma packaging group’s ability to navigate its accounting crisis.

The stock currently trades at around €23.82, roughly 15 percent above the level of a month ago. That recovery, however, masks a devastating 59 percent collapse over the past twelve months. The shares have managed to push back above their 100-day moving average, a technical milestone that chart watchers note still leaves them 17 percent below the 200-day line — a clear reminder that the broader downtrend remains intact.

The Accounting Hole at the Heart of the Crisis

The root cause of Gerresheimer’s troubles lies in so-called bill-and-hold arrangements. The company invoiced customers for goods but delayed delivery, a practice that a law firm has now confirmed violated IFRS standards. The impact: €35 million in improperly recognized revenue and €24 million in adjusted operating profit that should never have been booked.

The BaFin has opened two formal investigations. Regulators are scrutinizing €65.5 million in potentially misstated lease liabilities, alongside capitalized development costs running into the tens of millions that may have been carried at incorrect useful lives. In the Advanced Technologies segment alone, the book value of assets under review stands at nearly €197 million. Questions are also being asked about KPMG, which took over the audit mandate from Deloitte in 2024 and issued an unqualified opinion on the flawed accounts shortly afterward.

The annualized 30-day volatility reading of 95 percent tells its own story about the uncertainty gripping the stock.

Shareholder Litigation Gathers Pace

The legal front is heating up. The German shareholder protection association DSW is preparing to pursue damages against former CEO Dietmar Siemssen, former CFO Bernd Metzner, and the supervisory board. An expert opinion has been commissioned to examine potential misconduct around the goodwill impairments. DSW managing director Marc Tüngler has already begun sounding out external litigation funders to back the claims.

Yet the investor camp is far from united. While the DSW presses for accountability, funds including CastleKnight Master Fund and Deka Investment have been buying into the weakness. The divergence between those betting on a recovery and those shorting the stock into record territory underscores just how binary the outcome looks from here.

A Fire Sale to Buy Breathing Room

Management is not waiting passively. Plans are advancing to sell the US drug packaging unit Centor, with Morgan Stanley mandated to run the process. The division is carried on the books at €292 million and generates above-average margins. A sale would inject much-needed cash but would permanently weaken the group’s future earnings power.

On the operational front, Gerresheimer continues to guide for 2026 revenue of €2.3 billion to €2.4 billion and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 18 to 19 percent. The order book is described as solid and day-to-day business is running within expectations. Crucially, key financial covenant tests on the company’s debt have been suspended through the end of the third quarter, providing temporary headroom.

June Is the Make-or-Break Moment

The company was ejected from the SDAX on April 10, 2026, and the annual general meeting originally scheduled for June 3 has been postponed indefinitely. None of this will change until the audited 2025 financial statements are published.

That moment is now set for June 2026. Only then will investors have a reliable data set to work from. The half-year report is due on July 14, 2026, providing the next fixed point in the calendar.

Until the accounts land, the share price will remain hostage to BaFin findings, litigation developments, and the daily flow of short-selling activity. At 11 percent and rising, the bears are not backing down — and they have the balance sheet opacity on their side.