Till Becker was appointed executive director at Hess AG lin January this year
An internal investigation commissioned by the supervisory board of troubled German lighting firm Hess AG alleges that sales revenues at the firm for the 2011 and 2012 financial years were 'overstated'.
The company carried out the seven-week analysis of its accounts after dismissing its previous managing board members Christophe Hess (former CEO) and Peter Ziegler (the former CFO) over the 'suspected manipulation of the balance sheets'.
The special investigation came to the conclusion that sales revenues at the firm for the 2011 financial year were overstated by approximately €9 million and the annual surplus by about €6 million. According to the report, sales revenues for 2012 were exaggerated by about €15 million while the annual surplus was overstated to the tune of approximately €9 million. The company floated on the German stock exchange in late 2012.
Due to these results, the company expects a loss of at least €15 million for the 2012 financial year on the basis of the annual surplus. It also said it would have to adjust or "reissue" its financial statement for 2012, but only after presenting its 2011 financial statement again.
Hess AG and its subsidiary Hess Lichttechnik started insolvency proceedings in February. The firm said it had already started a restructuring process and would be able to provide more details about this in April.
