Close Brothers' shares tumble after being targeted by short seller; firm counters claims

Group 1 - Close Brothers' shares fell by 15% following a report from short seller Viceroy Research, which stated it was shorting the company [1] - The report criticized Close Brothers' provisioning approach for motor finance commissions and its impact on the company's capital position [2] - Close Brothers responded by stating it "strongly disagrees" with the report and emphasized that its provisioning complies with UK-adopted international accounting standards and follows a robust governance process [2] Group 2 - Close Brothers is scheduled to report its half-year results for the six months ending January 31 on March 17 [2]