Wood Group has been given more time to hold discussions with Dubai-based suitor Sidara which last month indicated it would make a cash offer for the Aberdeen company.

Engineering consultancy Dar Al-Handasah Consultants Shair and Partners, trading as Sidara, has been granted access to due diligence information.

As predicted by Daily Business yesterday, the deadline set for 5pm today has been extended to 5pm on 17 April for Sidara to state whether or not it intends to make a formal offer.

Sidara walked away from a takeover attempt of the Aberdeen company in August last year but has returned following the collapse in Wood’s share price in recent weeks.

Sidara last year said “rising geopolitical risks and financial market uncertainty” were behind its decision to withdraw its interest after conducting due diligence on Wood and offering 230p per share, valuing the group at £1.7 billion.

That caused shares in Wood to fall instantly by 35% to 126.8p to leave the company worth about £873m.

Shares Wood Group plunged by a further 55.6% to 29p in February after it warned of shrinking cash resources following a poor trading performance.

It is also addressing “weaknesses and failures” in past reporting of its finances. They closed on Friday at 38.4p. In the first hour trading today they were up 2.5p at 40.94p.

Wood had previously received interest from US private equity firm Apollo Global Management which walked away after proposing a 240p a share deal.

In October Wood announced a review into corporate governance, and recently said there was a cash flow issue, which has led to a further collapse in its shares.

Chief financial officer Arvind Balan resigned following an “honest oversight” in claiming that his professional qualification was as a chartered accountant instead of certified practicing accountant. The company has appointed Iain Torrens as interim chief financial officer.