Gerresheimer’s Creditor Truce Buys Time, but the Accounting Scandal Still Casts a Long Shadow
Published on 04/30/2026 at 04:52 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The Düsseldorf-based pharmaceutical packaging group has managed to buy itself a lifeline, but the underlying crisis remains stubbornly unresolved. Gerresheimer secured a crucial reprieve in mid-April when holders of its Schuldschein loans — totalling roughly €870 million — voted 96 percent in favour of extending the deadline for submitting audited financial statements until the end of September 2026. The move was greeted with palpable relief on the trading floor: the stock has climbed nearly 23 percent over the past month and now trades around €23.80, a sharp rebound from the February trough of €15.57.
Yet the rally masks a deeply troubled picture. Gerresheimer is still unable to publish its audited annual and consolidated accounts for 2025, a failure that prompted Deutsche Börse to eject the company from the SDAX index. The vacancy has been filled by smart-home specialist Shelly, cutting Gerresheimer off from institutional capital flows tied to index benchmarks. The first-quarter figures for the current year are also delayed, with no publication dates yet announced.
At the heart of the turmoil lies a systematic accounting failure. An independent law firm confirmed that Gerresheimer had recognised revenue prematurely under so-called bill-and-hold arrangements — invoicing customers for goods that had not yet been shipped. The total impact amounts to €35 million in prematurely booked revenue and €24 million in overstated adjusted EBITDA. Germany’s financial regulator, BaFin, has since identified additional irregularities: incorrectly reported lease liabilities, errors in the useful lives assigned to capitalised development costs, and unrecorded impairment charges in the Advanced Technologies segment, which carries a book value of nearly €197 million.
The audit regulator APAS has opened professional disciplinary proceedings against KPMG, which had issued an unqualified audit opinion on the 2024 accounts despite the errors. KPMG had only taken over the mandate from Deloitte in 2024. Meanwhile, the shareholder protection association DSW is examining potential damages claims against former CEO Dietmar Siemssen and former CFO Bernd Metzner.
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Management is now racing to stabilise the balance sheet. The planned sale of US subsidiary Centor Inc., which specialises in packaging systems for prescription drugs, is being handled by Morgan Stanley. A double-digit number of potential buyers have already been engaged, and the transaction is still expected to close this year. The proceeds will be used to reduce debt.
An alternative exit strategy has been taken off the table. US conglomerate Silgan had tabled an indicative offer of €41 per share in March — more than double the prevailing market price at the time. Gerresheimer rejected the approach, and according to people familiar with the matter, no further talks are underway.
The company’s 2026 revenue forecast of €2.3 billion to €2.4 billion, with an EBITDA margin of 18 to 19 percent, remains conditional on successful debt negotiations and a favourable outcome from the BaFin investigation. The targets will only become binding once audited accounts are published, which the company now expects in June 2026. The annual general meeting, originally scheduled for 3 June, has been cancelled with no new date set.
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On the operational side, Gerresheimer says business is running in line with expectations. The group is pressing ahead with a strategic refocus on high-margin biopharma packaging and auto-injectors, including an expansion at its Wertheim site. CFO Wolf Lehmann is tasked with shoring up internal compliance structures.
The stock has recovered roughly 53 percent from its February low, but remains down more than 60 percent year-to-date. The 30-day volatility stands at an extreme 94 percent, reflecting persistent nervousness among traders. The BaFin probe — for which no timeline has been disclosed — remains the single biggest unknown. Until that cloud lifts, Gerresheimer’s recovery rests on borrowed time.
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