Lookers’ (LOOK) auditor Deloitte will resign its brief once the car dealer’s 2019 annual results have been released, with Lookers having accepted that an expected delay to their publication will force the suspension of its shares.
In March, Lookers asked accountancy firm Grant Thornton to conduct a fraud investigation after unearthing “potentially fraudulent transactions” in one of its divisions, and delayed the release of its 2019 results. In a trading update last week, Lookers said that the investigation was nearly complete, but this morning the dealer group has admitted that it will be unable to put its results together by its deadline of 30 June.
The Financial Conduct Authority has told Lookers that its shares will be suspended from 7am on 1 July until its results are published. Lookers said that its “priority and focus is the production of the 2019 results at the earliest possible date and by no later than the end of August 2020”. Lookers shares slumped 16 per cent following the announcement.
House broker Peel Hunt forecasts full year 2019 pre-tax profits and earnings per share of £15.5m and £3.1m respectively, before a fall into pre-tax losses and losses per share of £79.8m and 15.7p.
