Börsen-Zeitung, 19 May 2026. Lukas Arndt (dpa-AFX)
Prosthetics manufacturer Ottobock faces harsh criticism from short seller Grizzly Research: it is unclear how much the company actually earns from Russia’s war-wounded, and whether it has access to those funds at all.
Shares of Ottobock came under massive pressure on Tuesday following a negative report by Grizzly Research, at one point losing 13 per cent. The short seller launched its attack on the very day of the orthopaedic technology company’s annual general meeting.
Grizzly Research bases its criticism mainly on speculation surrounding the “extravagant lifestyle” of principal shareholder Hans Georg Näder, to whom 81 per cent of the shares are attributed, and speculates that Näder’s free-spending ways give him a personal stake in Ottobock’s share price gains.
Value of the Russia business uncertain
The reporting of “Core EBITDA” would allow the company to exclude less profitable business segments from the prominent metric, thereby embellishing profitability. “In its last annual report, Ottobock presented an ‘Underlying Core EBITDA margin’ of 26 per cent (…) the actual GAAP-IFRS net margin is 5.3 per cent,” the report states.
Ottobock’s Russia business is also under fire: while Ottobock attempts to portray its operations in the country as “less operationally relevant,” it has not reported any figures from the country since the last financial year, according to the report. Group revenue rose by 12.4 per cent from 2024 to 2025, while the Russia business grew by an estimated 76 per cent over the same period, according to Grizzly Research. At the same time, EU sanctions against Russia would make it difficult for Ottobock to repatriate any profits from the country — €12 to 21 million may be frozen.
Ottobock brought up the rear of the SDax on Tuesday; Atoss topped the index with a gain of 12.4 per cent. The Dax and MDax benefited from Donald Trump’s announcements that he would not attack Iran just yet, defending their elevated levels of 24,640 and 31,900 points respectively towards midday. Among individual stocks, SAP stood out with a gain of 6.5 per cent, as did Nemetschek and Hensoldt with 8.9 per cent each and TKMS with 6.4 per cent.