Troubled Italian food group Parmalat has said its net debt was more than €14bn (US$17.6bn) in September, almost eight times as much as its former managers had claimed.


Parmalat said that its new auditors PriceWaterhouseCoopers had found that sales and core earnings figures had been highly inflated, reported Reuters.


The company said net debt at the end of September was €14.3bn, but back in November, in its official third-quarter results, Parmalat had said its net debt was €1.8bn.


Parmalat said PWC had found that January-September earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were €121m, compared to the €651m stated in the results. Revenues were €4.00bn, compared to the €5.38bn stated in the results.