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Wood Group has said it will need to restate financial results after an independent review found “cultural failings”, including information being withheld from auditors.
The troubled London-listed engineering group said on Monday that “material” adjustments were expected to its income statements and balance sheet for its three most recent financial years and that its accounts for its 2024 financial year would be delayed as a result.
The company said it no longer expected to publish its full-year 2024 accounts by April 30, and would suspend its shares from that date if further work is needed to complete them. Shares fell 36.3 per cent in early trading on Monday.
The company remains in talks over a possible takeover by Sidara, a privately held network of engineering and design companies run from the United Arab Emirates, which has until April 17 to make a firm offer or walk away.
Shares in Wood have fallen roughly 70 per cent over the past year as it struggles with a heavy debt load and burns cash.
Wood, whose chief financial officer stepped down abruptly in February after admitting misstating his accounting qualifications, had announced an independent review into its projects division in November last year “in response to dialogue with its auditor”.
On Monday, the company said the review had “identified material weaknesses and failures in the group’s financial culture”.
“This included inappropriate management pressure and override to maintain previously reported positions, including through unsupported dispensations, and over-optimism and/or lack of evidence in respect of accounting judgments,” it said.
It added: “The cultural failings appear to have led to instances of information being inappropriately withheld from, and unreliable information being provided to, Wood’s auditors.”
The company said there had been “significant” changes within Wood since the period covered by the review, and it was “committed to implementing a detailed remediation plan”.
