ZURICH (Reuters) - Temenos shares surged 18% on Monday after a special committee appointed by the financial software company said allegations made by Hindenburg Research were "inaccurate and misleading".
The report by the U.S. financial research firm "presented purported facts about Temenos in a distorted manner or out of context," the Swiss company said in a statement.
Hindenburg was not immediately available for comment outside U.S. business hours.
The report, released in February, wiped out nearly a third of Temenos's stock market value.
At the time Hindenburg said it had taken a short position in Temenos and alleged accounting irregularities and manipulated earnings at the company.
Temenos makes software that connects the client-facing part of banks with back-office processing departments.
Hindenburg also alleged that Temenos had secretly funded the purchase of its own software, citing public filings and interviews with former employees.
Temenos responded by appointing a special committee, including outside forensic accountants and lawyers, to carry out an examination.
It reviewed more than 100 million pages of data, visited Temenos offices and interviewed senior management.
"We did not identify any 'sham' partner deals, as alleged by Hindenburg," the investigation said.
There was also no evidence of deep discounts being offered to secure early licence renewals, while management's share sales were much lower than the level alleged by Hindenburg, the report added.
The inquiry also noted that Hindenburg was not an unbiased party, but stood to profit from the stock's decline due to its short position.
"The report has found that Hindenburg's Research's allegations were inaccurate and misleading," Temenos Chairman Thibault de Tersant said.
Petrus Advisers, an activist shareholder of Temenos said it expected the software company "to wake up and finally take legal action against Hindenburg."
Analysts were positive about the investigation's findings.
"This removes a major uncertainty factor with regard to Temenos’ business model, which we see as a positive development," said Christian Bader at Zuercher Kantonalbank.
Bank Vontobel said publication of the examination's results was an important step towards rebuilding investor confidence.
Also on Monday, Temenos said it was "hopeful" of being able to name a new chief executive in time for its upcoming shareholders meeting on May 7.
The newcomer would replace Andreas Andreades, who returned for a second stint as CEO in January 2023.