Petrus Advisers, a London-based activist investor of Swiss software firm Temenos, has called for the company to sack its interim chief executive Andreas Andreades following a damning short-selling report from New York firm Hindenburg Research.
In a detailed report published on Thursday, New York-based short seller Hindenburg laid down a litany of accusations against Geneva-listed Temenos, ranging from financial mishandling, poor product quality and insider selling.
Petrus, which holds around 2% of Temenos’ shares, has been calling for a shakeup of the software group’s management for years.
“We very much agree with Hindenburg that Andreas Andreades has to finally leave Temenos,” wrote Petrus’ managing partner Klaus Umek and partner Till Hufnagel.
“Most of the points alleged by Hindenburg are based on hearsay talk from former disgruntled Temenos executives.
“Since 2022, we have been speaking to many of them (many of whom clearly are on a revenge mission), plus numerous Temenos customers, partners and industry experts.
“We concluded that Andreas Andreades had created a culture that favoured short-term gains over long-term value creation. Poorly executed M&A added to the problems.
“Investment in technology, client satisfaction and own staff had been neglected. We concluded that those challenges were not a fundamental threat to the successful future of Temenos but were holding back its potential.”
Temenos has since replied to Hindenberg’s report, saying it “contains factual inaccuracies and analytical errors, together with false and misleading allegations, which are intended to adversely impact the company’s share price”
"The company is confident in the strength of its business, financial performance and cash position," Temenos added.
Temenos shares were plunged by a third following the publication of the Hindenburg report.