Motor sales group Lookers has admitted it expects alleged fraud in the company to cost it £4 million.
The company revealed the expected one-off charge as an investigation into mis-stated accounts and fraudulent expenses claims continues.
Lookers described the alleged fraud as "not material" when the affair emerged in March. In July last year, the FCA instigated an investigation into “control issues” in Lookers' sales process, which was followed by the departure of chief executive Andy Bruce and chief operating officer Nigel McMinn.
McMinn's successor, Glasgow-based Cameron Wade, resigned days after the fraud claims emerged in March.
Lookers delayed publication of its financial results for the year to 31 December 2019 as a result of the fraudulent investigation which it has carried out conjunction with advisory firm Grant Thornton.
It said the first phase of the probe had identified misrepresented debtor balances in respect of bonus receivables and a number of fraudulent expenses claims.
Lookers said: "These items are expected to give rise to a one-off, non-cash charge, in the 2019 financial statements of circa £4 million."
The company said the investigation has been extended across the group and had so far identified operating divisions where certain non-cash balance sheet accounts had not been fully reconciled.
It predicted that the group will still make an underlying pre-tax profit for 2019. Seven of its dealerships are in Scotland across Ayr, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling.
In a trading update, Lookers said new vehicle sales had been down 4.8% year on year for the first two months of 2020. For the same period, like-for-like sales of used vehicles fell by 2.6% while aftersales revenue was up 0.9%.
