Shares in Go-Ahead, the transport operator stripped this year of the Southeastern rail franchise, dropped on Thursday after it said it would miss the deadline for filing its results and was preparing for its stock to be suspended.
The company on Thursday apologised for “serious” failings in its railway business after it failed to declare money owed to the government, and said it did not know when it would be able to publish its annual results, which were originally due on September 30.
Deloitte, the company’s auditor, has said it will not be able to complete the audit by January 3, the latest date permitted for the results to be published by UK regulators.
Go-Ahead has warned investors it expects its shares to be suspended from January 4 until the results are complete, which it expects before the end of January.
Shares in the company fell 22 per cent in morning trading, taking their losses over the past six months to more than 50 per cent.
The Department for Transport announced in September that it would take control of the Southeastern franchise after finding Go-Ahead had not declared more than £25m in taxpayer funding that should have been returned since 2014.
Go-Ahead on Thursday said an independent review had confirmed Southeastern had breached its contractual obligations under the UK’s rail franchising system.
The UK-listed company operated the Southeastern franchise through Govia, a joint-venture with France’s Keolis.
“The review has found that serious errors were made by London and South Eastern Railways with respect to its engagement with the DfT over several years . . . accordingly, the group has apologised,” Go-Ahead said.
The money owed to the exchequer, which has now been repaid, was originally discovered by a government official.
The problem concerned unreturned government financial support to cover track access fees for High Speed 1, the rail link that connects London with the Channel Tunnel through the south-east of England, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Train operators pay by the minute to run trains over HS1, the only high-speed rail lines in the country.
Despite losing the Southeastern franchise, Go-Ahead still runs some of the busiest rail lines in the UK through Govia Thameslink Railways, another joint venture with Keolis.
The delayed results will leave Go-Ahead in breach of its debt obligations. The company said it was in discussions with creditors for a waiver.
Alongside the apology on Thursday, Go-Ahead warned investors it could lose its rail contract in Norway because government funding arrangements had not been agreed, and that it faced a £10m hit from its operations in Germany.