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Wood Group, a UK energy engineering company, said it is under investigation by financial regulators regarding withholding information from auditors.
The company, which is eligible for a £242 million bid from UAE-based Sidala, revised its financial results in March and said it would suspend its shares.
On Friday, the company said it would look into the period from early 2023 until the announcement that Wood will make an independent review in November. Wood said it would fully cooperate with the investigation.
The FCA confirmed that it was investigating the wood without giving details. This is the first time regulators have used an improved ability to “shamed” and shame more companies that investigate, including those that disclose it themselves.
Wood operates worldwide and serves decarbonization projects in its oil and gas clients, mining companies and locally, including carbon capture and storage. It announced revenue of $5.9 billion in 2023.
It expanded rapidly in 2017 through the purchase of its £2.2 billion rival AMEC Foster Wheeler, but has since struggled with high debt and low cash flow.
Last year, Sardar, who left the 1.5 billion timber offer, made a new, non-binding offer in April, said the company’s offer would depend on issuing an audited 2024 account.
Both sides have extended the deadline for ferns to make four offers, with the current deadline set for June 30th.
The preliminary findings from last year’s review, conducted by Deloitte, discovered issues with “applying related accounting standards” and “gaps and flaws within the application of controls,” Wood said in February.
Wood said the review identified “material weaknesses and failures in the group’s financial culture” and “inappropriate management pressures.”
He added that these “cultural failures led to cases of unreliable information provided to Wood’s auditors because information was inappropriately withheld and unreliable information.
Separately, Arvind Baland, who served as finance chief in 2024, resigned in February after admitting that he was incorrect in his accounting qualifications following questions from the financial era.
Despite that problem, Wood continues to win contracts. This month we announced a five-year contract with Brunei Schel Oil.
