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I have chased up re the absence of a statement on waivers. The extension of the PSU notes that the company is continuting to engage constructively with its lenders but the absence of an extension of the waivers suggests that the lenders are now reserving their right to an immediate repayment of their loans!

A reminder to all - I am pretty long Wood into the suspension. Before the FCA investigation announcement I would have though a minimum offer of 35p with upside from there and a possible counterbidder were all possible. However if I were Sidara I would want to know further details of the investigation before proceeding, although in all likelihood the only thing it would throw up is around misbehaviours and control failures rather than anything materially new and negative in financial terms. Still it is a worry we do not need and so I hope the eventual appearance of the Accounts will provide the necessary reassurance. That said the auditors are likely to attach at least some qualification to the Accounts in relation to the ongoing FCA investigation. Not helpful to the loan negotiations either but again it depends whether we are dealing with conduct issues or new financial issues, hopefully the former.

You know what to expect from the AGM as it is contained in the Chairman's letter which was sent to shareholders who requested it. The letter is on the Wood website. It says absolutely nothing more than we already know. There is an opportunity to post questions for the meeting - again available via the website but might possibly be too late now. Next important date is 30th June which is the deadline for both the latest PUSU AND for the lender waivers. It is clear from the Chairman's letter that the Accounts will not be published by this date and so we will need another extension or VERY UNLIKELY an unconditional bid by this date.

I am hoping that given the business progress that Wood seems to be making the environment in the Middle East will not frustrate an offer being made. Also I still think that there is some chance of a counter bid although this is statistically a low one. I would not however expect a bidder to show its cards until the Accounts are published. If Sidara were clever and given all the due diligence they have done, they should put in a firm offer before the Accounts have been published which could then frustrate any counterbidder. We will see.

My main concern, not mentioned by anyone I can see below, is that Sidara use the events in the Middle East, just as they did the other year, as an excuse to withdraw or lower their conditional bid. Given that Wood's business seems to be winning new significant contracts, I hope this won't happen and given Sidara's interest to date, I think an outright withdrawal is unlikely. But this is a new factor that was not there before.

@IceCool - I believe that we are both long WG. However I take issue with you continuing to post that the historic events have no impact on future cash flow. WG have never confirmed that the historic events have no impact on the AMOUNT of future cash flow. It seems patently obvious that the contracts which will now be massively written down WOULD have generated cash flow in the future which will NOT now be received. So the amount of future cash flow/revenue/ profits is lower than it would have been had these writed downs not occured. As valuation is based on the present value of future cash flows this too has fallen compared to history. Whether 35p is the right number or not for the value of the shares I do not know. However insisting that nothing has happened to future cash flow ignores the reality and leads to over optimistic assumptions on the value of WG to the extent that the diminution in future cash flows is ignored.

I am very long the stock into suspension. My only real concern is the time it is taking to sort out the funding/refinancing. If Sidara is asked/forced to put more funds up by the lenders then we are going to get a reduction in the offer price. Time will tell.

There was a lot of posting yesterday about the recent deals won by Wood and inferring that a share price of as much as £1 a share will be paid for the company. As a holder I would love this to be true but unfortunately it is fantasy, like some other stuff posted on this BB. We will have to wait and see what Sidara does but for what it is worth:

1. They have invested a lot of time, money and effort so far in pursuing Wood.

2. If they had informed Wood that they were going to withdraw or reduce their offer then this would have had to be disclosed at the time of the RNS immediately before the shares were suspended. It wasn't disclosed.

3. If Wood had been approached by another bidder at that time then this would also have been disclosable

4. There is a significant gap between the conditional offer of 35p and the suspension price of Wood's shares of under 19p. This could suggest a significant concern that Sidara would walk away or significantly reduce its offer price. Given all that has happened to date and the fact that we know that Sidara knew most of the significant issues before it put in its conditional offer, it would be surprising if it now walked away. However perhaps when Wood's Accounts are published this will give it a pretext to lower its offer. There is no doubt that over the weeks leading up to the share suspension institutions were selling and there was little if any institutional buying as a result market makers keen to avoid holding the shares into suspension would have hammered the priced down until they found a clearing price for the stock on their books.

5. If there were to be an alternative bidder it makes perfect sense that they have NOT yet shown their hand. Far better to wait for the audited Accounts and see what Sidara does before making a move. So there is still a chance that an alternative bidder will emerge.

6. Key next date is 15th May or before if Wood manages to publish its accounts.

7. I think that the Accounts will be terrible with massive write downs to goodwill, further provisions against past contracts and a sharp reduction in tangible NAV. The Wood Board are not recommending a 35p offer if everything is hunky dory, despite what super optimists such as @IceCool may think.

8. I do not think Wood will go into administration and that it will be sold. I am hoping for the 35p or perhaps a few pence more especially if a rival bidder emerges.

Overall

Of course we know that no rival bidder has approached Wood! Don't you think they would have had to mention this rather material fact in the RNS which immediately preceded the share suspension when they confirmed and extension of the lending waivers and the intention to relist.

There is some logic to this GRaff but I have learnt over many many years that the market while not always right is a fairly reliable signal. I think that there is a chance of a counterbid especially from Apollo given its five approaches in the past. The question I keep asking myself - and so should others who like me are long - why is the suspension price so low. I have said on many occasions that I hope that this is because any institution which is unable to hold a share with zero liquidity or wanted to reduce its exposure would be a seller and very few if any institutions would be buyers. This leaves s retail lot to mop up shares and because our wallets aren't large enough and because no market maker want to hold stock it has taken on from sellers, the share get artificially heavily punished. So we holder all think it is cheap but the weight of money seems to think otherwise. Let's hope it is for the reason I have suggested and no other.

If Sidara had indicated that it was either going to walk away or reduce its bid then this information if conveyed to Wood would have had to be in the pre suspension RNS. The fact that it wasn't gives me hope, but you have to admit that a share price under 19p, a conditional offer of 35p and your strong view of further bids makes it a difficult circle to square.

Thank you Axel. I will only repeat that it is impossible to form judgements long term or short term until we have more facts and therefore any valuation figures are totally speculative. In particular, I will be interested to see the size of the order book compared to the last posted figure. If it is down by a third - picking a figure from the air - then what does this say about future valuation. My worry is that people are focusing too much on the past to work out what the future should be and as they say past performance is no guide to future performance. Can we even believe the cash flow forecasts given for this year and next and the estimated disposal proceeds intended to fill the cash flow gap this year. I don't know but the management's record so far suggests that you should take little on trust. If Wood is really worth 35p ex the debt injection then it will be sold at that level. As many have pointed out, institutions would crystallise big losses at that level. Rationally this suggest that they should reject the 35p offer BUT only if they have sufficient visibility to suggest that the valuation will be materially higher than this in one to two years time. We will have to wait and see. Meanwhile there is still short interest at under 19p so what is that telling you. If 35p is really a bargain then I would expect a counter offer as the implied upside would justify this. You will not see any offer until the accounts have been published and Sidara has confirmed whether it will bid. The price at suspension casts big doubt on a counter offer but for all those on this BB who think the offer significantly undervalues Wood they should be shouting from the rooftops that a bid is on the way if they really believe this. My own view is that there is probably sufficient value above 35p to justify a counter offer but I have not made my investment decisions on this premise.

The point is that Wood needs to be recapitalised. Ideally more equity is required but the dilution is so horrendous at current levels which I why the BoD went for the Sidara bid as the least bad option of several very unpalatable ones. I listened to the conference call when the CEO in answer to an analyst question refused to rule out an equity issuance and that was when the price was 3x higher than now. In reality it is impossible to estimate what the valuation will be in the future... assuming that there is a future. The only thing that is clear is that the starting base for any valuation will be different/lower than it previously was. Until we see the Accounts we do not know, other than historical yardsticks and assumptions are out of the window. Unfortunately, the fact that the BoD indicated it was prepared to accept a bid of 35p a share suggests that things are probably much worse than we all realize.

I think you are all dreaming re 100p valuation. Let's see the Accounts first but I strongly feel that there will be a significant reduction in tangible book value - that is why there has been big covenant breeches. I think you are all assuming that this is just a bit of a write down of goodwill and no impact on tangible net asset value or future revenue.

@Ice keeps referring to the statement "that the ability to generate future cash flow is not affected" but this completely misses the point about the quantum of future revenue which management has remained suspiciously silent on. The contracts will have been significantly written down had a revenue stream attached to them otherwise what is their purpose. While the timing of the contracts might mean that from an accounting position the revenue or some of it had not so far been recognised, there was nevertheless a stream of revenue that will now no longer be received.

So trying to put a value on Wood based on historical positions or statements is a complete waste of time. It may well be that Wood is worth more than 35p but I very much doubt it is worth double this amount or more as several posters have suggested. I say all this as someone who is very long the shares!

No one is going to bid until they have seen Sidara show its true hand and until the audited accounts have been published; why would you. Obviously no one has approached the Wood Board or they would have had to say in yesterday's RNS

Good post James. All pretty sensible. I am very long the stock. The question why Wood went into suspension at such a discount to the possible offer price remains. I do not think Sidara would walk away or indeed reduce its price and were that to have been suggested to the Wood BoD they would have had to inform the market as part of yesterday's RNS. To try and square the circle I have consistently argued that the discount reflects the almost total absence of institutional buyer not wanting to get locked in to an illiquid stock with still some uncertainty of the final outcome. The result is that any selling by those who cannot afford a period of no liquidity has found few substantial buyers and hence the market makers have smashed the price to find a buying level as they do not want to be holding Wood shares against which they would need to set aside regulatory capital crimping their business capacity in other stocks.

Whether this alone is sufficient to explain away the discount I don't know. I was also surprised that there was not more closing by shorts; perhaps the reason is that the funding is shorts is low, that the shorters have been in this position at much higher levels so they are only risking a portion of their very large gains if and hopefully when the shares bounce.

I have to say that I am slightly surprised at the price retreat. I concur that it may be down to a last minute rush for the exit before liquidity is removed and market makers slamming the price down to a clearing level as they do not want to be holding the stock into suspension. These factors must be outweighing the closing of shorts although there is still some time for this to appear. Basically there are no buyers other than retail punters and institutions and others selling. I doubt there is any increase in short going on if anything the opposite seems to be happening. Would have liked to see 20 something p into suspension.

Those that suggest Sidara will make a much lower offer, that might be right but if they had even hinted at this to the W Board it would have been obliged to say in this morning's RNS

The next key date is the PUSU which I recall expires around 12th May? It can of course be extended again and Sidara having come so far is likely to request this if necessary. What I am really interested to see is if there is any counter bid. I think that Apollo will hold fire until it knows what Sidara's position is

I don't thing it will take too long before the Accounts are published. Like everyone else I am guessing but I would have thought that it would be a matter of weeks rather than months given that they must have been working away at them for some time.

If I were short I would want to close that into the suspension if only to lock in profit. Not to do so in the light of this morning's RNS would suggest a very bearish view on what will happen to Wood during the suspension. Given that Sidara is still in the game and that there is still an outside change of a bid from somewhere else eg Apollo, I think remaining short into the suspension is a very dangerous game to play. So I am hoping that the shares will squeeze up and that institutions that wanted to sell and cannot sit the suspension out have done their selling by now. However I might be wrong, hope not!

What I mean is that every company must be able to demonstrate that it has enough resources for at least the next 12 months. Ordinarily this would not be a problem for Wood as it had the banking facilities. Take these away and I think that the auditors would have to put a qualification in the accounts saying that as things stood there were doubts that Wood was a going concern. Given that I am hopeful that the financing will be resolved and that I believe that Wood is in fact a going concern - otherwise I would not be very long - I am hopeful that if the Auditors do issue a going concern qualification to their audit, then this will be resolved. Better still would be if the financing is sorted before the Accounts are published which would do away with the need for a going concern qualification. Obviously if there was a serious risk to Wood as a going concern then it could not relist. Nevertheless, going concern statements are not what you want to see as they are unsettling,

I have backed my judgement and topped up further just now