Listed motor dealership Lookers Plc has said it will delay publishing its financial results until April after it identified “potentially fraudulent transactions”.
Shares in the Greater Manchester group plunged 20.97 per cent this morning, from 36.90p at last close on Tuesday to 29.20p on Wednesday morning.
In a brief statement, Lookers said: “In the final stages of preparing its results for the financial year ended 31 December, 2019, the company has identified potentially fraudulent transactions in one of its operating divisions.
“As a result the Board has decided to postpone the announcement of its results until the second half of April.”
The firm was due to release results for the financial year ended 31 December 2019 today.
“While the initial findings are not material in the context of the group, the board is appointing an external adviser to lead a full investigation into the matter,” the group added.
It comes after the group announced it has appointed a new chief executive and chief operating officer last month.
The group reported that 2019 was a “challenging year” in a trading update for the 12 months to December 31.
In the trading update, the firm said, despite challenges, trading in the final quarter was “as expected” and anticipates underlying pre-tax profit to be in line with expectations.
