By Joe Hoppe
Shares in Safestyle UK sank after the door-and-window manufacturer cut its full-year guidance due in part to weaker demand, saying it now expects a wider underlying loss instead of a profit.
At 0806 GMT, shares were down 3.4 pence, or 41%, at 4.9 pence.
The London-listed company said that, while mitigation actions supported a return to profit at the end of the first half despite reduced volumes, order intake from mid-August to early September missed its expectations.
Safestyle said performance was still better than the wider market, which is performing around 24% below 2022 levels for July and August. It said its own current order intake is down 11% on year.
The company said it now expects 2023 revenue to be between 140 million pounds and 142 million pounds ($173.4 million-$175.9 million), compared with GBP154.3 million in 2022. It expects its underlying loss to be in the range of GBP9.5 million-GBP10.5 million from a loss of GBP4.4 million in the previous year.
In July, the group said it expected its full-year underlying profit for 2023 to be around GBP500,000.
Safestyle said it has taken steps to mitigate weaker demand, including reduced employee shifts, voluntary pay and fee waivers for management among other measures, but added this won’t be enough to fully mitigate the demand drop-off in the short term.
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