CHARTER plc Statement re Financial Results
27/01/2003
Charter announces that it has become aware of certain accounting irregularities affecting one of its business units within the Air and Gas Handling business in North America. The Chairman has ordered an in depth investigation into the matter and a team has been despatched to North America, supported by external advisers, to assess the nature and scale of the irregularities. Preliminary enquiries indicate that Charter’s underlying operating profit for the financial year 2002 may, in consequence, be some £6 million lower than management’s previous expectations and that reported financial results for prior years may have been overstated by some £4 million in total. Employees who may have been involved in the matter have been suspended pending further enquiries.
The investigating team has, at this stage, found no evidence of misappropriation of assets and believes that the irregularities are confined to one business unit and have no wider consequence for the integrity of the Group’s financial statements.
Contact
Andrew Fenwick, Pamela Small, Brunswick +44 (0)20 7404 5959
David Gawler, Chairman & Chief Executive, +44 (0) 20 7838 7081