Ferrexpo postpones its annual results following a survey of a charity conducted in Ukraine

Ferrexpo, a Ukrainian-based miner, delayed the publication of annual results after a charitable donation audit highlighted a number of additional "discrepancies".

Last month, the iron ore producer hired BDO's accountants to help an independent review committee review payments to Blooming Land, a charitable foundation responsible for coordinating the company's corporate social responsibility program. (CSR) in Ukraine.

Ferrexpo said Tuesday that BDO's preliminary work had highlighted "a number of discrepancies over the use of funds by Blooming Land and its sub-funds". These payments could "not all be used for the intended purpose," he said.

"In view of the evolution of the situation and the ongoing work of the IEC and its advisers, the Group has decided to postpone the publication of its results for 2018," he said. The company now plans to release figures by April 3rd.

The company's shares focused on Ukraine fell by nearly 10% to news.

The company donated $ 9.5 million to Blooming Land in 2018 but has not made any contributions since May of this year.

Ferrexpo is the world's leading exporter of iron ore pellets for the steel industry. It belongs mainly to the Ukrainian billionaire Kostyantin Zhevago.

In 2015, a bank owned by Mr. Zhevago – and holding most of the miner's money – went bankrupt, forcing the company to write off $ 174 million during a sharp drop in commodity markets.

Ferrexpo was part of the group of emerging market mining companies in London at the time of the commodity boom of the 2000s.

Ian Hannam, the former banker of JPMorgan, nicknamed the "king of mines" for its links with many transactions in the natural resources sector, was at the origin of the listing of Ferrexpo in 2007.

The company was formerly a member of the FTSE 100 index of major stocks before collapsing when steel prices fell during the global financial crisis.

Ferrexpo announced last month that its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for 2018 would be about $ 500 million, up from $ 551 million the year before.