John Wood Group PLC (LSE:WG.) shares plunged in Thursday’s early deals as the offshore engineer launched an independent review of its business, to be conducted by Deloitte.
It comes after write-offs to large-scale projects earlier this year.
“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 company said in a statement.
In London, the shares collapsed 47% losing 58p to trade at 65.94p.
The company on Thursday gave its third-quarter results, though noted that the outlook provided would not factor in any potential impacts from the Deloitte.review.
In the same announcement, Wood said third-quarter revenue amounted to $1.48 billion representing growth of around 1% on the same period last year – for the nine months in the year to date, revenue totalled $4.33 billion, down 3% year-over-year.
The order book was valued at $5.4 billion at the end of September, marking an 8% decrease compared to the same period last year. Wood Group maintained its full-year forecast, expecting high single-digit adjusted EBITDA growth, supported by anticipated improvements in the fourth quarter.
A cost-cutting programme is on target for annual savings of $60 million.
"We continue to make progress on our turnaround, building a simpler, higher quality Wood,” chief executive Ken Gilmartin said in a statement.
He added: "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.”