Gotham City Research, a short-seller that made a name for itself last year by taking on SES-Imagotag, accuses Grifols of manipulating its debt and EBITDA to "artificially reduce reported leverage to six times, when we believe it's closer to 10 to 13 times". The fund believes that GRF and Scranton Enterprises (a Grifols family vehicle) are fully consolidating the BPC Plasma and Haema entities, even though they own no shares in these companies, which make a significant positive contribution to earnings. "If our estimate of Grifols' true leverage is correct, GRF will face significantly higher financing costs," explains Gotham City Research.

The report is available on the Gotham City Research website.

A disappointing stock market performance

Grifols

Grifols is one of Spain's 15 largest market capitalizations. Its performance over the past five years, excluding dividends, has been mediocre.