Sino Forest, the Chinese forestry company fighting allegations of fraud, has delayed publication of its internal review into claims made by research outfit Muddy Waters that triggered a collapse in the company’s share price in June.

An independent committee, which has hired accountants PwC to assist in the investigation, has presented an interim report to Sino Forest’s board but needs more time to complete its work, the company said on Monday in a press release accompanying second-quarter results.

Conclusions of the review had been expected by next month. However, they will now appear by the end of the year, the company said, blaming “the decentralisation of data”.

The committee requires more time to analyse “vast amounts of electronic data and thousands of documents from all the subsidiaries of the company, including contracts, government documentation, computer and server data”, Sino Forest said.

Due to the ongoing review, the company also opted not to discuss the unaudited results in public or hold a conference call with analysts.

Carson Block, the founder of research group Muddy Waters, accused Sino Forest in a report of overstating its assets and diverting money through intermediaries to defraud investors. The report also raised questions about the use of unidentified business partners on the Chinese mainland who are responsible for paying Chinese taxes on Sino Forest’s timber transactions.

The company, which is listed in Canada, has firmly denied the allegations, claiming that there were errors in the report, and has released documents in an attempt to show it owned the assets it claimed.

Shares in Hong Kong-based Sino Forest, which traded above C$25 per share earlier this year, were up almost 5 per cent to C$6.92 per share at lunchtime in Toronto. The company announced sales of up $317m in the quarter, up 6 per cent on the same period last year.