Terence Chapman put up for sale

Shares in Terence Chapman Group plunged 16 per cent yesterday after the IT consultancy put itself up for sale as it admitted trading was not getting any easier.

The group, which has issued four profit warnings in the past year, said market conditions remained "difficult" and that the trading outlook continued to be "uncertain".

"As a result, the board has resolved to explore various alternative means of enhancing shareholder value, including a strategic merger or seeking an offer for the company," it said.

Shares in the company, which floated on the stock market just three years ago at 135p each, closed down 2.5p yesterday at 13.5p.

The move came as Terence Chapman announced it had completed its latest and third round of cost-cutting, having already reduced its headcount to about 140 staff from 170.

It also follows the company's fourth profit warning, issued last month, when it said trading conditions had, if anything, got worse, particularly among its investment banking client base.

A spokesperson for the company said yesterday that it was "not necessarily" the case that trading had worsened since last month, rather that Terence Chapman was weighing up its options in the light of the ongoing difficult market conditions.

Analysts were yesterday leaving their financial forecasts for the company unchanged, predicting a loss of about £3.6m for the current year to 31 August and a £500,000 profit for the following year.

Terence Chapman, which has about £16m of cash, warned last month that its financial performance for the current year would fall "significantly" short of market expectations.

The difficult market conditions it had warned of in April were persisting, it said. "The resulting pressure on utilisation and fee rates continues to impact revenues in the short term," it said.