One of the day’s biggest losers so far is telecoms testing group Spirent Communications, which has lost nearly 16% following a profit warning.
The company said it expected revenues for the full year to be in line with forecasts but added that profits would be “materially below our expectations” due to plans to invest in new products and its acquisitions “given the opportunities for growth in this time of unparalleled change.”
Before the warning analysts had been expecting profits of $36.77m, according to Reuters, compared to $24.1m last year.
The comments came as it reported an operating loss of $2.2m for the first half, compared to a profit of $13.9m in the same period last year. Chief executive Eric Hutchinson said:
Multiple new technologies are being developed and key people in the industry are making critical decisions about where to make their future investments which Spirent can help them optimise. While this inevitably means volatility in the short term, particularly in the wireless business, the opportunities are significant for Spirent.
The market is not convinced, and the company’s shares have tumbled 14.75p to 79.5p, with more than 4m shares traded compared to a daily average of around 960,000.
