MARKET REPORT: Wood Group Shares Plunge 60% Amid Accounting Investigation

One of the North Sea’s biggest engineers cut its value by more than half yesterday by launching an investigation into its accounts.

Shares in FTSE 250 giant Wood Group, which is based in Aberdeen and works on everything from oil rigs and wind farms to mines and hydrogen storage, fell 60 per cent in the biggest fall since it listed in London in 2002 .

The drop came after the company, which has 35,000 employees in 60 countries, said Deloitte would carry out an independent review of its operations.

It said this would focus on the value of its contracts, as well as accounting, governance and controls, and would include “whether any prior year restatements may be required”. Wood also warned that business in the third quarter was “mixed.”

The update sent shares down 74.8p to a record low of 49.8p.

As investors continue to absorb the impact of the US election and the UK budget, as well as transatlantic interest rate cuts and a series of corporate upgrades, the FTSE 100 closed down 0.3 per cent, or 25.94 to 8,140.74, while the FTSE 250 closed up 0.9 per cent. , or 188.67, to 20,635.37.

Burberry shares closed up 7 per cent, or 57 pence, at 870.6 pence amid talk on the trading floor that Italian puffer jacket maker Moncler is finalizing its bid for the trench coat maker.

Across the pond, shares of New York-listed British chip designer Arm fell 0.9% as its latest update disappointed investors.

The Cambridge-based firm, whose designs power almost all smartphones, has seen its shares more than double since it listed in the United States in September last year.

The rally was fueled by bets that it would benefit from a rise in artificial intelligence computing. But Arm’s latest revenue forecast – up from £707m to £746m for the third quarter – was in line with analyst estimates of £726m.

Back in London, shares in cross-border payments processor CAB Payments fell 25.2 per cent, or 26.9 pence, to 79.7 pence after US rival StoneX pulled out of takeover talks.

Shares in Auto Trader fell after warning that new car sales fell 10 percent in the first half of the year “despite an increase in manufacturer discounts.”

The FTSE 100 firm said it continued to see “strong levels of demand for used cars” but it was not enough to prevent the shares from falling 7.2 per cent or 60.4p to 783p. Semiannual income.

rose 8 per cent to £302.5m, while operating profit rose 14 per cent to £188.4m. Taylor Wimpey reported “steady signs of improvement” in demand for new homes and said it was on track to build 10,000 this year.

The shares rose 0.2 per cent, or 0.25p, to 139.9p.

Online ticketing platform Trainline plans to cut jobs to save £12m a year.

The announcement came as it said profits more than doubled to £46.5m in the first half of the year. It now expects revenue to grow between 11 and 13 per cent in the current financial year, down from a range of between 7 and 11 per cent.

The shares rose 5%, or 20p, to 416.8p. National Grid posted a 14 per cent rise in first-half profits to £2.05bn, but shares fell 0.1 per cent, or 1.2p, to 982p.

Tate & Lyle reported a 10 per cent drop in half-year revenue to £775m and a 17 per cent drop in profits to £103m. However, the shares targeted rose 1.9 per cent, or 15p, to 789p.