Laser technology company Gooch & Housego today issued a profit warning which saw its shares plunge nearly a quarter.
Chief executive Gareth Jones warned that demand for its so-called Q-Switch equipment, which magnifies the heat of lasers, had fallen across the world, particularly in its key market of China.
After a poor four months, profits for the year ending in September were now likely to come in "significantly below" the board's expectations, the company warned. Its Q-switches are used in a wide range of factories using laser technology but Jones singled out the microelectronics sector as being particularly hard hit by the downturn.
He said: "We find ourselves exposed to the cyclical nature of the industrial sector that last year helped us to record record results."
Jones attempted to soften the blow by saying it was carrying out potentially lucrative aerospace and defence programmes which could bear fruit in the second half.
However, shares in the AIM-listed firm fell 103.5p to 372.5p.
