APR's accounting woes present a buying opportunity

APR listed in London last year after reversing into an investment vehicle set up by Pizza Express founder Hugh Osmond. The company revealed on Tuesday evening that it hadn't managed to get its audited accounts done in time, which caused its shares to slump by about 20pc. So its full-year numbers are delayed until April 16. "This is later than was originally scheduled due to the complexities in reporting and accounting for the various corporate transactions which have taken place during the period," APR said. APR has made clear the only issue is they ran out of time on a very complex audit – line-by-line break-out of complex capital transactions. John Campion, chief executive, insists that there is nothing monstrous hidden in the numbers – and Questor takes him at his word. However, the City can have a long memory and trust needs to be rebuilt. Hopefully the April 16 announcement will start to build these bridges.