John Wood Group has appointed Iain Torrens as interim chief financial officer following the sudden resignation last week of Arvind Balan.

Mr Torrens’ appointment is effective immediately while the Aberdeen-based engineering company conducts a comprehensive search process for a permanent CFO.

Wood is currently in talks with Dubai-based Sidara which has returned for another tilt at taking over the company. No details of a potential offer has emerged.

Wood’s shares have risen on the back of the discussions after falling sharply when it unveiled weak trading results and updated on a review by Deloitte into its corporate governance.

A fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, Mr Torrens brings over three decades of finance experience. He was previously an executive director and group CFO at several UK public companies, including TalkTalk Group and ICAP.

Most recently, he was chairman and non-executive director of Guernsey-headquartered Praxis Group, a role he held until October 2024.

Ken Gilmartin, Wood’s CEO, said: “The board and I acted quickly to appoint an interim CFO. This is a critical period for Wood and Iain is a seasoned CFO with the necessary capital markets experience and proven leadership in refinancing and financial reporting, as well as risk management, audit and compliance.

“I look forward to working closely with Iain in this next phase to ensure a strong and sustainable future for Wood. The search to identify a permanent CFO for the Group will continue.”

Mr Torrens said: “While there are clear challenges today, I am focused on the significant opportunity here and look forward to working with Ken and the team to help realise this.”