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  "documentTitle": "Stroer SE & Co. KGaA (SAX)",
  "authorId": "51_Muddy_Waters",
  "authorName": "Carson C. Block",
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  "sourceTypeLabel": "Short seller",
  "presentationDate": "2016-04-21 00:00:00",
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      "text": "This report first analyzes the pillars of the investment case for Ströer by closely analyzing its financial performance, and dissecting how it reports the numbers it does.",
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      "text": "I. Organic Growth in Digital and Overall Appear to be Greatly Overstated\nII. Ströer Appears to Artificially Inflate EBITDA\nIII. We Adjust Operating Cash Flow Downward\nIV. We Adjust 2015 FCF Downward by €51.7 million (-33.1%), and Discuss Our Concerns About Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement Accounts\nV. Digital Segment Operational EBITDA in 2015 Appears Overstated; Operational EBITDA Growth in 2014 and 2015 Seems to us Low Quality\nVI. Cash Flow Statement Shenanigans Appear to Disguise Cash Flow Needs, and Indicates Ströer's Auditor is Asleep at the Switch\nVII. Switching to Gross Revenue Recognition Obscures Real Revenue\nVIII. Müller and Dirk Ströer Buy a Business and Flip it to Ströer\nIX. Ströer Insiders' Self-Dealing Goes Beyond freeXmedia\nX. Unreported and Opaque Insider Sales\nXI. Suspected Lack of Impairment for Apparently Failed Investments Suggests Lack of Accountability at Ströer\nXII. Cavalier About Capital Allocation\nXIII. Governance Seems to be Extremely Investor Unfriendly\nXIV. Curious Changes to Subsidiary Shareholdings\nXV. Infoscreen Profitability Seems to be an Extreme Outlier",
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      "text": "We believe that Ströer has substantially overstated its organic growth figures in 2014 and 2015. We do not know if what we believe to be the overstatements result from incompetence or are an attempt to mislead investors. Below are the organic growth figures we calculated from the information the company released. We use the same formula Ströer used in each year, and we made no adjustments to methodology. (We explain the misleading way Ströer calculates the base year for its 2015 organic growth calculation. When we adjust Ströer's base year, 2015 organic growth is even lower.)",
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      "text": "This report first analyzes the pillars of the investment case for Ströer by closely analyzing its financial performance, and dissecting how it reports the numbers it does. In these sections, we raise some flags about Ströer's accounts. The report then details areas of our concern about the insiders, conflicts of interest, and their competence.",
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