The management board of CCC denies the allegations of Ningi Research and treats the report published on Thursday as a speculative attack – said the group's representatives.
“The material was prepared without, in our opinion, an appropriate analysis of legal provisions and economic reality, but with a large dose of bad will and an attempt to attribute bad intentions to our company. The so-called report seems to have been written on the knee. It adapts all existing facts to a pre-adopted thesis, and its authors seem to be simply lazy. A tendentious interpretation of facts seems to serve only one purpose. aiming for people who play short shares to earn money,” said Dariusz Miłek, president and founder of CCC, during a video conference.
“We are completely questioning the credibility of this entity. This is an entity that is not registered anywhere, has no registered office, no specific person has signed it, so we treat it purely as a speculative attack,” said Wojciech Latocha, director of the CCC investor relations department, during a video conference.
Ningi Research, which deals with, among others, forensic accounting, announced on Thursday that it had taken a short position on CCC shares. According to the authors of the report, CCC is: “a façade built on aggressive accounting tricks, undisclosed transactions with related entities and a large-scale program to artificially increase sales.”
The authors of the report said, among other things, that evidence shows that CCC “sells” hundreds of millions of inventory to the insolvent franchisee MKRI, which artificially inflates CCC's revenues and profitability, even though the cash from these sales never reaches the company.
Short and accusations against CCC. Company: The key thesis of the report is pure manipulation
The shares of CCC from WIG20 recorded a significant decline on the WSE on October 16 as a result of the announcement by the independent analytical company NINGI Research of a short position on the shares of the fashion giant and numerous accusations against the company. The most serious ones focus on alleged “channel stuffing”, controversial accounting procedures and “secret connections” with an “insolvent wholesale client” who was supposed to absorb PLN 330 million of surplus stock. The company denies the allegations.
MKRI runs Kaes stores, as well as Worldbox (based on a franchise agreement with CCC). CCC currently has 10 percent. shares from MKRI, which – as said by the vice president for finance of CCC, Łukasz Stelmach – bought for over PLN 100,000. zloty. The company is now waiting for the consent of the antitrust office to take over MKRI (it wants to buy 41 percent of shares). Stelmach estimates that the acquisition amount will amount to PLN 1 million. President Miłek explained that CCC may have from 51 to approximately 80 percent. at MKRI. 20 percent is to remain in the hands of the current owners, who will include, among others: responsible for the product and operations in stores in Poland. CCC itself will be responsible for the expansion of Worldbox abroad.
“I think it will be a successful takeover if we get the consent of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection and that we will quickly see PLN 1 billion in turnover,” said President Miłek.
He said that the company expects the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection to approve the takeover in the coming weeks.
When asked why the group was taking over this entity and not building a clothing business itself, Miłek replied: “We are buying existing turnover, certain competences. (…) We needed something that exists and, in the opinion of American licensing companies, will give us the right to obtain rights to license goods,” adding that CCC is taking over “a company with problems for nothing.”
How is MKRI doing financially?
The CCC Group announced that by mid-October 2025 it had generated PLN 91 million in gross margin on wholesale sales to MKRI (PLN 80 million in H1'25 [3 proc. wartościowej marży brutto grupy] and PLN 122 million from the beginning of cooperation) as part of normal business activities consisting in selling products to two partner store chains: Kaes and Worldbox. The group's average gross margin on this cooperation is 33%. and – as stated – it is identical to the gross margin generated on cooperation with other partners as part of wholesale activities.
According to the group, in 2025 MKRI will generate a loss similar to last year's or slightly greater, resulting from the liquidation of old goods from before the period of entering into cooperation with the group. All goods currently purchased by MKRI from the group have a positive impact on MKRI's EBITDA result. Currently, steps are being taken to restructure this entity. His results will improve significantly next year.
According to the Ningi report, the transfer of CCC inventory to MKRI, which began in November 2024, has since resulted in an increase in the group's EBITDA by nearly PLN 270 million. CFO CCC refutes these allegations, explaining that EBITDA is influenced, among others, by: costs of license fees, logistics costs, etc. Stelmach explained that EBITDA from this cooperation could so far amount to several dozen million PLN.
The authors of the report claim that their analyzes show that over PLN 330 million of receivables are related to MKRI, of which over PLN 100 million are overdue.
Miłek explained that part of KRI's obligations result from the fact that CCC carries out renovations and purchases furniture for the chain.
“Some of these PLN 300 million in receivables are liabilities resulting from the renovation of stores and the purchase of furniture. These are our locations. If we do not receive the consent of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, nothing will happen, because this loan is for goods in our stores and furniture in our stores,” said the president of CCC.
“When we take over control of MKRI, the debts that exist will no longer be debts, they will be within the group. (…) Now we have a transition period,” Miłek added.
CCC representatives also informed that the liabilities are gradually repaid by MKRI.
The president of CCC also commented on Ningi Research's allegation that the development of the network of the entire CCC group is far from the assumed goals. The Group plans to increase its retail space by 325,000 sq m in this financial year ending January 31, 2026. m, and approx. 160,000 have been opened so far. square meters
“We are opening five stores today alone and this pace should continue until the end of the year, because all the openings have accumulated,” Miłek said.
During Thursday's quotations on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, the CCC price reacted with a strong decline to the Ningi Research report. Shares dropped by as much as several percent at high turnover. At the close of the session, the price fell by approximately 5.3%, to PLN 146.
CCC announced that it is considering taking legal action against the authors of the Ningi Research report in connection with the dissemination of false information that manipulates the share price. (PAP Business)
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