Newcastle life sciences firm SkinBioTherapeutics plc has announced that it will soon publish the results of an investigation into its former CEO.
Shares fell at the listed Newcastle skincare firm in February after it announced that it was dropping its revenue and profit expectations after former CEO Stuart Ashman's exit.
Mr Ashman was suspended by the Helix-based company's board following concerns about his conduct, which led the company to bring in advisers. He then resigned, and the launch of the investigation was announced to shareholders on the London Stock Exchange.
The board later said it "has reason to believe that the former CEO has misrepresented material information to the board and senior management, the company's auditors and advisors". It said accrued royalty income was included in the audited FY25 accounts "due to a potential misrepresentation", triggering the decision to "seek to reverse these sums from the Group FY25 accounts completely".
Now the board of the business, which is based at The Core at life sciences cluster Helix, has announced that its investigation into the financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2025 is complete, and that trading will soon resume.
The announcement said: "Consequently, the board expects that the HY26 results, together with the restated (unaudited) FY25 results, will be published shortly, along with the resulting actions both taken and planned in respect of the findings of its investigation.
"The board anticipates that trading in the company's ordinary shares will resume following publication of those results.
"Whilst the board had expected to publish the HY26 results by the end of May, there were some difficulties in obtaining all the information and evidence which the investigating committee considered to be relevant, and finalising our remediation plans have therefore been slightly delayed."
It said that, following the conclusion of a formal competitive tender process, the company has appointed Saffrey LLP as its independent auditor for the financial year ending June 30, 2026 with immediate effect.
It added: "Gravita Audit II Limited, the company's outgoing independent auditor, has confirmed that there are no circumstances connected with it ceasing to hold office that need to be brought to the attention of members or creditors of the company."
Rachel Parsonage was appointed as interim CEO for a period of six months in March.
