(Reuters) – German battery maker Varta AG late on Thursday said it had to change restructuring plans after its core business underperformed, and a cyber attack, that halted production for weeks, made its financial situation even worse.
This sent its shares down 30% at the Frankfurt open on Friday.
The firm had agreed restructuring plans with majority shareholder Michael Tojner a year ago after key client Apple cut production of its AirPods headphones.
Varta, which makes batteries for headphones, received a 50 million cash injection from Tojner at the time as well as an assurance from auditors KPMG that the firm could return to profitable growth.
Volatile orders, particularly of small-format lithium ion cells, as well as supply chain problems and aggressive pricing by competitors have since cast doubt on that assurance in the mid-term, Varta said.
The company had expected to return to profitable growth by the end of 2026 under its original plans.
Varta, which in February postponed the publication of its 2023 financials following a cyber attack, is in the process of signing a standstill agreement with its creditors, it said in a statement.
Rothschild & Co has been mandated to explore recapitalisation options, it added.
(Reporting by Alexander Huebner and Louis van Boxel-Woolf, editing by Andrey Sychev)
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