Shares hit 10-year low after casting group’s profit warning

Castings group Chamberlin saw its shares crash to a 10-year low after it revealed its losses last year were worse than expected.

A bad debt has resulted in an additional loss of £300,000 in the year to March, adding to its previous forecast for annual operating losses of around £600,000.

Its annual results will also now include a non-cash write-down of its assets of £3.0m, caused by an impairment review of its two sites within the foundry division.

The news resulted in its shares falling 15%, to 37.5p – the lowest level since March 2009 – before closing at 42p.

Walsall-based Chamberlin issued a statement to the stock market on Thursday lunchtime despite it scheduling to publish its preliminary results on Tuesday.

It said the change in its financial figures followed a “final review with its auditors”. In February it had warned investors that market conditions had deteriorated and its cost-cutting measures would really only have an effect in its 2020 financial year.

The full-year figures are still expected to show a post-tax profit of £1.5m because of the impact of Exidor, its emergency exit hardware business it sold in December.