Shares in the company nearly halved to 156.10 pence posting its
worst single day drop.
The electronic component maker's profit warning follows troubles
facing Samsung Electronics Co Ltd <005930.KS>, which analysts
say is a key customer for Laird.
Samsung scrapped its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone last week
less than two months after its launch, after failing to resolve
safety concerns with the device.
Laird said it expected full-year underlying pre-tax profit to be
about 50 million pounds ($61 million), lower than 73.1 million
pounds it earned in the year ended December 2015, adding that it
"experienced increased margin pressure due to unprecedented
pricing pressures."
Laird, which is on Apple's official list of suppliers, had not
previously given any guidance for the full year.
Apple said in July that it had sold 40.4 million iPhones in the
third quarter, down 15 percent from the year-ago quarter, noting
a drop in sales for its flagship product for the second straight
quarter.
Laird said on Wednesday that revenue in the performance
materials unit, its biggest business by revenue, fell 5 percent
on a constant currency basis in the third quarter ended Sept.
30.
In August, Laird lost its top boss to struggling British
aerospace and defense company Cobham Plc <COB.L> and appointed
CFO Tony Quinlan to take over as chief executive on Sept. 5.
(This version of the story was refiled to say correction was in
paragraph 5, not 2. The story was corrected earlier to add
dropped word 'pre-tax')
(Reporting by Pranav Kiran in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar
Warrier and Amrutha Gayathri)
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