Lend Lease concludes Abigroup investigation

Lend Lease has finished its investigation into misreported profits at its subsidiary Abigroup. It has confirmed that issues with the two projects under scrutiny will not have a material impact on its financial results or position. It also says there was no evidence of systemic problems with its reporting structures.

The investigation was carried out by Lend Lease, assisted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Evans & Peck and Hinds Blunden. This took place at the same time follow-up work by KPMG, which audit’s the company’s accounts, into the discrepancies and circumstances surrounding the mis-reporting.

Lend Lease CEO and managing director, Steve McCann, said “Lend Lease has acted quickly, in an open and transparent manner to address the matters that were identified through our robust internal control processes. We will be implementing additional controls and process improvements within Abigroup in order to address the circumstances that led to the matters identified and we will be making personnel changes as appropriate.

“We currently have over 500 projects in our portfolio in various stages of delivery. While some projects may generate profits or incur costs outside of initial expectations, our financial reporting procedures mandate timely, accurate and complete reporting to Group management from all of our businesses.”