UK oil firm fined £13m for repeatedly publishing inaccurate financial results

John Wood Group has been fined nearly £13m for repeatedly publishing inaccurate financial results.

The FTSE-listed oil and has engineering company, which is soon to be bought by a Dubai-based rival, has previously admitted that “cultural failings” led to information being kept from auditors.

On Wednesday, the Financial Conduct Authority handed Wood Group a £12.9m fine for inaccurate reporting between January 2023 and November 2024. The watchdog began an investigation into the company in June last year.

The FCA said: “Following the poor performance of certain projects, Wood Group’s accounting judgments were inappropriately influenced by its desire to maintain previously stated financial results.”

The watchdog added that the company did not have “adequate systems, controls or procedures to prevent this from happening”. It would have fined Wood Group £18.5m, but cut the penalty by 30% after the company agreed with its findings.

Aberdeen-based Wood Group, which carries out engineering and consulting work on oil rigs, has been dealing with the accounting fallout since 2024, when it ordered an independent review into its finances by Deloitte.

The review uncovered “inappropriate management pressure” to stick with existing financial reports despite problems in a number of contracts in its projects business. Those related to “legacy lump-sum turnkey projects” – where a contractor handles everything from designing to building a scheme.

The turmoil deepened when Wood Group’s chief financial officer, Arvind Balan, quit abruptly last year after it emerged that he had misstated his professional qualifications.

Over the same period, Sidara, the Middle Eastern engineering company that eventually agreed to buy Wood Group last November, significantly reduced its offers for the UK firm, citing market turmoil.

The deal, which is due to go through next week, will see Wood Group taken over for just £216m, a fraction of Sidara’s initial approach worth £1.58bn made in 2024.

It will also make Wood Group the latest company to leave the London Stock Exchange, following the likes of the gambling group Flutter Entertainment, the construction equipment firm Ashtead and the drugmaker Indivior.

Wood Group was trading at a market value of £199m on Wednesday. Shares had fallen 91% over the last five years.

Steve Smart, the FCA’s enforcement director, said: “Investors rely on accurate information to make decisions. Wood Group failed to provide this and fell well short of the high standards we expect of listed companies.”

In a statement referring to “historic financial reporting matters”, Wood Group said the regulator’s findings were consistent with Deloitte’s eview.

It added: “Wood cooperated fully with the FCA throughout its investigation. The company has developed a remediation and governance action plan to address the issues identified in the independent review and has taken steps to implement the plan, as noted by the FCA in its findings.”