BOSIDENG International Holdings Ltd.’s shares yesterday fell the most on record after a short seller report questioned the company’s accounting practices.

Hong Kong-listed Bosideng overstated its revenue and profit, according to a report published yesterday by Bonitas Research. The stock fell as much as 28 percent before trading was suspended. A Bosideng official, who asked not to be named, said the report was untrue and the company would issue a more detailed response in due course.

Short sellers have in recent years zeroed in on Hong Kong stocks. The city, the world’s fourth-biggest equity market by value, has seen several corporate governance blow ups, with companies losing 90 percent of their value in a single day. The exchange operator and securities regulator in Hong Kong have raised the threshold for going public, and have said they are cracking down on corporate fraud.

Bonitas, founded by Texas-based short seller Matt Wiechert last year, has previously published short reports on Hong Kong stocks including Chong Sing Holdings FinTech Group Ltd. and Hengan International Group Co.

Chong Sing has lost about 96 percent of its value since Bonitas first questioned the company’s financial reporting in September. Hengan is down about 6 percent since the short seller published a report in December. Both companies denied Bonitas’s allegations.

Wiechert also targeted Singapore-listed Best World International Ltd. in April, saying the business overstated sales and profit in China. The shares fell more than 23 percent after the allegations were made public and have since been suspended, though Best World refuted the report’s conclusions.

(SD-Agencies)