Spending delays spark Promethean profits warning

NORTH West educational technology supplier Promethean World warned that profits would be below expectations today as customers in the US and Europe delayed spending.

The Blackburn-based group, which floated in March, said in late October that it was seeing signs that decisions on major projects were being deferred, but at that stage it expected to hit targets.

But in an update today it said: “The group has seen a deepening of these uncertainties and constraints particularly in the United States, and also in Europe.

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“This has reduced near term visibility. December remains an important trading month, but the board now believes that fourth quarter revenues will be lower than in the same period last year and that therefore full year results will be below market expectations.”

While stressing that in the long-term its prospects were still postive, the maker of interactive classroom whiteboards said it would be “actively managing its cost base”, a move that would lead to a one-off charge in the fourth quarter. 

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