Vestas investors demand audit probe Investors calling for an independent inquiry into Vestas are accusing the Danish wind turbine maker of using an accounting change to boost its revenues in 2010 and thereby avoiding the likely need for a profit warning. Deminor, a Brussels-based shareholder rights group, has filed a motion for next month's annual meeting at Vestas asking for an independent auditor to probe a series of events. Its areas of concern include why the company changed its revenue recognition policy, disclosure around profit warnings and the workload of its chairman. It is really a lot of issues. All taken together, they lead to the result that our clients and other investors have lost confidence in how this company is being run ... The suspicion is that the company changed the accounting rules to hide some other problems," Erik Bomans, partner at Deminor, which is backed by 104 investors, told the Financial Times. Vestas shares have plunged 95 per cent since 2008 as weaker global demand for wind turbines coincided with an ill-timed expansion followed by triple profit warnings in 2011 and 2012. Much of the management has changed since then apart from Ditlev Engel, chief executive, who remains the target of many investors" ire. Deminor argues that there is still too much uncertainty over Vestas" decision in November 2010 to change its revenue recognition policy due to accounting rules that had been known about for several years and had been in force since the start of the year. The shareholder group alleges that the change boosted revenues that year by as much as €1.8bn by transferring sales from previous years, thus avoiding the likelihood of a fresh profit warning after an earlier one in August 2010. Deminor is demanding an explanation for the triple profit warnings, with a concern that they were related to the accounting changes. Asked whether the complaints were about actions too far in the past, Mr Bomans said: "It is important to the outside and in relations with investors to be a lot more open." Deminor is also urging a revamp of the group's board of directors, saying the chairman, Bert Nordberg, has too many other directorships to focus on Vestas, with board roles at SCA, BlackBerry and soon Electrolux. It argues that other Vestas directors are too busy and it is concerned there are not enough independent directors. Lars Villadsen, head of investor relations at Vestas, who is dealing with the complaints, was unavailable for comment. Vestas declined to comment on the €1.8bn calculation but referred back to the company's announcement when it first responded to complaints by Deminor. The Danish group then said the issues raised "have already been fully reviewed or otherwise are being investigated by the board. In the opinion of the board, additional investigations will be unnecessary.