Shares in Wood fell sharply yesterday after the energy services giant revealed a review into a series of writedowns.

The Aberdeen-based offshore engineer group announced that Deloitte is scrutinising the transactions “in response to dialogue” with its auditor KPMG, another Big Four accountant.

When markets closed on Thursday, Wood's share price had collapsed by 74.76p (60%) to just 49.84p.

This left the firm valued at just £342.64million - months after it knocked back a £1.4billion takeover approach in May.

Its share price has rebounded slightly today (Friday) and was up 2.83% at 51.25p, with the company valued at £350.27million.

The Times reports the review will look into governance issues surrounding the decision to exit the projects.

It will seek to determine if any previously reported results will need to be restated. Contracts positions in the projects division as well as accounting and controls are also set to be looked at.

In a statement at the opening of the markets on Thursday, CEO Ken Gilmartin, CEO, said: "We continue to make progress on our turnaround, building a simpler, higher quality Wood.

"Our simplification programme is on-track to deliver annualised savings of c.$60million, and we completed the sale of CEC Controls and agreed the sale of EthosEnergy in the period.

"The increasing quality of our business is evidenced by higher pricing, expanded margins and a higher share of our pipeline from sustainable solutions.

"It was, however, a mixed quarter for group performance. We saw strong year-on-year growth in operations and margin expansion in consulting.

"Our projects business delivered a disappointing quarter, impacted by delayed awards in our chemicals business and our continued weakness in minerals and life sciences. As such, we continue to take actions to redress this underperformance.

"We have reiterated our full year guidance of high single digit growth in EBITDA and net debt to be broadly flat compared to last year, assuming the sale of EthosEnergy completes by year end."

Wood's Q3 trading update also stated: "Following the exceptional contract write-offs relating to the exit from lump sum turnkey and large-scale EPC reported at the half year 2024 results, and in conjunction with the auditor's ongoing work, the board, in response to dialogue with its auditor, has agreed to commission an independent review to be performed by Deloitte.

"This review will focus on reported positions on contracts in projects, accounting, governance and controls, including whether any prior year restatement may be required. An update will be provided as appropriate following its conclusion.

"The results presented in this trading update, and our full year outlook, are before any potential impacts from the independent review."

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