Companies
UK's Wood Group Fined $17M for Results Reporting Lapses on Eve of Purchase by UAE Firm
Ardurra said the cash and stock purchase closed this month and will increase its employee total to 2,600 across more than 120 offices nationwide.
Amid the long-awaited closing in the coming days of its acquisition by Dubai-based consultant Sidara Group, U.K.-based energy engineer-contractor Wood Group has been fined $17.4 million by its home country's financial regulator for allegedly publishing inaccurate information in recent company financial results.
In a March 4 statement, the Financial Conduct Authority noted breaches in Wood Group's full-year 2022 and 2023 and half-year 2024 results that were delayed, contending that the company “failed to take reasonable care to ensure that its announcements about those results were not false or misleading.”
The agency’s results in the period from Jan. 1, 2023, to November 2024 concluded that following cost overrun issues on certain lump-sum projects, Wood Group’s “accounting judgements were inappropriately influenced by its desire to maintain previously stated financial results.” It said the firm “did not have adequate systems, controls or procedures to prevent this from happening.”
Wood Group also had been audited last year in a board-commissioned review by accounting firm Deloitte. The UK financial agency said Wood accepted the findings of the investigation, which took nine months to complete, reducing its financial penalty by 30%. The fine is due by March 17.
“Wood cooperated fully with the [agency] throughout its investigation,” the firm said, also noting agency recognition of that. “The company has developed a remediation and governance action plan to address issues identified in the independent review and has taken steps to implement the plan,”
The pending $285-million Wood Group acquisition offer, while significantly less than previous bids made by Sidara over the last three years in a long running transaction saga, “represents the best option for its shareholders, creditors and wider stakeholders,” the U.K firm's board said. Both companies' shareholders approved it last year.
The fine announcement comes ahead of a March 6 court hearing in London to rule on the Sidara purchase, with Wood expecting the deal to complete by March 10, assuming court approval. A Wood spokesperson declined comment to media on whether the announced penalty will impact the acquisition.
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UPDATE:
Wood said that as of March 10, Neil Bruce, a Sidara non-executive board member since 2020, takes the added role of Wood CEO, replacing Iain Torrens, who was named CEO last November and has resigned from the firm, along with several other non-executive board members. Bruce had been CEO of the former global contractor SNC Lavalin, named to that role in 2015 and retiring four years later. as it recovered from contracting scandals before his tenure. The firm then acquired consultant WS Atkins and was renamed AtkinsRealis in 2023 under his successor and current CEO Ian Edwards. Bruce remains a board director of McDermott International and of the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Jade Moore joined Wood on Dec. 1 as its new CFO.
The firm “remains well placed to benefit from significant long-term growth drivers” in global energy and material markets, Torrens had said. The purchase will include a $250-million financing infusion from Sidara and access to bonding of about $200 million. "This transaction allows us to strengthen client relationships, expand into new markets and serve a broader range of global clients," Sidara CEO Talal Shair said, with Wood Group becoming Sidara's energy and materials division and set to retain its brand.
Wood announced that as of last December, it had secured more than $1 billion in oil and gas sector contract wins across the Middle East in 2025, marking the second consecutive year of record sales bookings in the region. The figure is a 20% increase in awards compared to 2024, with wins across the UAE, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, the firm said. The award includes the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract to expand the ADNOC Gas Habshan plant in UAE.
