Wirecard Buyback Can’t Stop Stock Drop Amid Accounting Concerns

(Bloomberg) -- Wirecard AG fell 6.3% in Frankfurt trading even as it announced a share buyback program of as much as 200 million euros ($223 million), indicating investors remain concerned over allegations surrounding the payment firm’s accounting practices.

Wirecard will start the buyback in the next few days and will carry it out over a 12-month period, the company said Friday. Wirecard fell to 111.65 euros at the close on Friday. That brings the stock’s decline to about 20% this week following a Financial Times report that detailed what it called “suspect accounting practices.” Wirecard has denied the allegations.

The company has been trying to move on from a series of reports from the FT this year that detailed suspected fraud. Friday’s fall comes three days after the newspaper said it found signs of improper accounting at Wirecard through a Dubai-based partner, which was claiming to process payments for Wirecard customers. The FT reported that many of the companies had no record of the dealings or weren’t in operation at the time.

Wirecard has strongly denied allegations of improper accounting, and on Wednesday said the names of the Dubai-based partners clients were just placeholders, internal labels for groups of genuine merchants.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stefan Nicola in Berlin at snicola2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebecca Penty at rpenty@bloomberg.net, Amy Thomson, Jennifer Ryan

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