Densitron warning after Japan setback

The Electronics group Densitron Technologies warned investors yesterday that profits for this year would fall short of expectations after a customer in Japan cancelled an order.

The alert sent shares in the company, whose core business is designing and making display screens for gadgets including fixed-line telephones and mobile phones, down 3.5p to close at 29p.

Densitron blamed the shortfall on the cancellation of an order from Japan for technology that powers sophisticated arcade computer games machines. The Biggin Hill-based company also admitted it had seen "softer than expected" demand for its core display products.

Analysts at the company's broker, Peel Hunt, more than halved their profit forecast for 2003 to £600,000 from the £1.3m profit they had been expecting. Last year, the company made a loss of about £5.3m.

Peter Joseph, an analyst at Peel Hunt, said about 80 per cent of the cut to forecasts related to the cancelled Japanese order, while the balance concerned weakness in the company's display products. "It's unfortunate but it's not the end of the world. They're doing all the right things but they've had a bit of a kick in the teeth," Mr Joseph said.

Densitron said it expected to report a "small" profit for the first half of the year when it publishes its figures on 10 September. It made a £3.5m loss in the first half of last year.