Mitie Group PLC (LON:MTO) has sought to clarify reports of an investigation into its 2016 results by Britain’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC).
Earlier on Monday, the FRC said it had decided to probe the "preparation and approval of the financial statements” for the year ended 31 March, 2016.
READ: MITIE axes 480 jobs as costs of recovery plan rise
But Mitie said that the company itself was not being investigated.
"Although the investigation is into members (ie persons who are regulated by the FRC Financial Reporting Council, including inter alia members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) and not Mitie itself, the FRC's announcement failed to state this expressly, which has caused a number of market commentators to incorrectly assume that Mitie is being investigated," the outsourcer said.
"We can confirm that this investigation is not into Mitie itself and that Mitie is not the subject of any new FRC investigation. We can further confirm that the investigation does not relate to any current directors of Mitie, any former non-executive directors of Mitie or Sandip Mahajan (who recently stepped down from his role as group chief financial officer).”
Mitie cuts divi
In a separate probe, announced in July, the FRC is looking into the conduct of Deloitte LLP's audit of Mitie under the audit enforcement procedure.
Mitie reported its results for the first half of 2018 early on Monday. The group cut its dividend as operating profit from continuing operations fell to £14.8mln in the the six months ended 30 September from £23.9mln the same time a year ago.
The lower profits reflected higher costs associated with contract losses and transformation expenses. Revenue rose to £959.7mln from £922.6mln last year.