During the course of the audit, the company’s auditor, BDO had written to the board and identified a number of serious concerns that had arisen during the course of its work on the FY22 audit regarding the group’s ability to provide sufficient and accurate audit evidence in respect of a number of key audit areas and the validity of certain commercial arrangements entered into by the company.

Last summer BDO recommended that the board appoint independent external advisers to undertake an independent investigation regarding the concerns raised and report their findings to an independent committee.