Image Scan Holdings PLC shares tanked on Tuesday after the company said it expects to post a significant loss for the first half of financial 2022 and thinks it is ‘unlikely’ that the second half will fully recover the loss.
Shares were down 34% at 1.99 pence each on Tuesday around midday in London.
The Leicestershire, England-based imaging systems provider said sales of its industrial scanners continue to be hit by disruption in the automotive industry. It noted that both customer demand and global supply chains in the industry have been negatively impacted by Covid-19.
In the first half of financial 2022, ending March 31, Image Scan said the pandemic hit customer spending ,as well as the operation of its sales and service functions.
As a result, orders were delayed, causing the ‘momentum that build up in the second half of financial 2021 to stall’. The company now expects to make a ‘significant’ loss in the first half of financial 2022.
Although, Image Scan expects full-year results to be weighted to the second half, due to a ‘strong’ pipeline of orders across the world, the ‘timing of those orders is hard to predict in the current environment.’
Image Scan, therefore, said it believes that it is ‘unlikely that the second half will be sufficiently strong to enable the Company to fully recover the first half loss.’
In financial 2021, Image Scan generated revenue of £2.9 million and a pretax profit of £188,824.
‘It is disappointing that our order intake has stalled in the first half of the year. While international travel for trade shows and demonstrations is still limited, we have a healthy pipeline of new business,’ Chair & Chief Executive Bill Mawer said.
‘However, it will take some time for that business to come through. Together with the loss of Covid-19 government support mechanisms, this gives us less confidence in our original expectation for the current financial year. The positive response to the launch of our new products gives us confidence for the longer term but, in the continuing, challenging environment, it has to be expected that it will take a while for order levels to recover.’
More positively, the company noted that it launched its ThreatScan-AS1 fully integrated portable X-ray system and a new high energy, X-ray generator.
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