Financial statements: the American police asked Lion Électrique for details

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the American financial markets watchdog, has asked Lion Électrique to provide more details on its annual financial statements.

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In a letter sent at the end of August to Lion’s chief financial officer, Richard Coulombe, the regulatory body requests details and explanations on four aspects of the Saint-Jérôme company’s financial disclosure for the year 2023 .

The SEC first wanted to know more about the potential financial impact of a lawsuit filed in November 2023 by disgruntled shareholders of Northern Genesis, a U.S. company with which Lion merged in 2021.

“Please revise the notes to the financial statements in future filings to include disclosures on the nature of these contingent liabilities […] and an assessment of their financial impact,” reads the SEC letter.

In its response to the SEC, sent in September, the company assured that it would comply with the organization’s request, starting with the financial statements for the third quarter of 2024. The latter, published earlier this month, do not, however, contain any additional details.

Lion maintains that the suit is “without merit” and intends to “vigorously defend.”

Non-significant sales

The SEC also asked Lion why it did not break down its revenue by product category. To this the company responded that its sales of trucks, parts and charging infrastructure were not “significant”. Lion’s revenue comes primarily from school bus sales.

The organization also asked Lion to better detail the fluctuation of its manufacturing expenses, which the company did in its most recent report to shareholders.

Finally, the SEC asked Lion for explanations on the accounting classification of the $62 million asset write-off linked to the company’s decision to indefinitely postpone the marketing of two minibus models.

Lion shares gained 1.7% Monday to close at 30 cents on the Toronto Stock Exchange.