Shares in Alphawave IP Group PLC (LSE:AWE) fell 20% to 95p after publishing results but revealing its auditor has requested more time.
The semiconductor company, which also released a trading update showing bookings topped US$100mln in the past quarter for the first time, said it has applied for its shares to be suspended from next Tuesday until the results are published, which is expected to be 12 May.
Results for 2022 showed post-tax profit fell by a third to US$6mln and cash flow by more than two thirds to US$8mln, which includes US$28m of deferred compensation payments related to the acquisitions of Precise-ITC and Banias Labs.
Net debt ended the year at US$24mln, following a debt raise of US$210m to fund the acquisition of Banias Labs.
Alphawave, which increased its headcount over fourfold as it made three acquisitions, said the audit procedures are "substantially complete" and it does not expect any changes to the preliminary results.
The principal reason for the auditor's delay is "because of the additional procedures required in connection with the first-time audit of the company as an enlarged group".