After the real estate company Adler canceled the publication date for the annual financial statements, the clock is ticking.

If the audited business figures for 2021 are not published by April 30th, the company will be excluded from the S-Dax stock market index - albeit only temporarily, until the figures are submitted later.

Mark Fehr

Editor in Business.

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The stock exchange rules, which have been tightened due to the Wirecard scandal, stipulate that companies from the Dax selection indices must normally publish their annual results, which have been certified by auditors, within 90 days of the end of the financial year.

At the same time, a grace period of up to four months after the balance sheet date applies.

The figures must be published with the auditor's certificate.

Just four extra weeks

Adler originally wanted to publish the figures for the 2021 financial year on March 31.

At the end of January, the company announced that this date could not be kept because a special examination of allegations by a short seller was delaying the auditor's certificate.

Because the grace period provided for by exchange rules ends after April 30th, Adler has only four additional weeks compared to the originally planned release date.

Should it not be possible to publish the figures and the attestation in the four additional weeks, Adler would not be the first S-Dax company to have to leave the small-cap index because of a late annual financial statement. The leasing provider Grenke was already excluded in May 2021. In his case, too, serious allegations by a short seller resulted in extensive special audits, which delayed the attestation. However, Grenke was able to quickly regain his place in the S-Dax. The allegations of manipulation and fraud against Adler come from the British speculator Fraser Perring, who also targeted Grenke.

It was precisely in this crucial situation that Adler lost a key person: Board member Michael Bütter resigned his mandate on January 31 in order to avoid possible conflicts of interest.

Bütter has been head of the real estate subsidiary of the cooperative investment group Union Investment since October 2020.

Adler justifies Bütter's withdrawal by saying that the manager, with the approval of the financial regulator Bafin, will be given additional areas of responsibility within Union Investment's regulated real estate division.

The real estate expert Bütter was chairman of the audit committee on the Adler board of directors and thus played an important role in monitoring the accounting and the audit.

The company now has to quickly find a replacement, which according to financial circles should only take a few days.