West Mids profit warnings stable, says E&Y
The number of profit warnings issued by West Midlands companies has remained static over the last quarter, according to research from Ernst & Young.
Three companies in the region issued warnings, one more than in the second quarter and the same number as the first.
However, the warnings came from different sectors when compared with the UK trend - one was from the media sector, a second from travel and leisure and the third from aerospace and defence.
UK quoted companies – main market and AIM listed - issued 51 profit warnings in Q3 2011. This was 11 pre cent more than the same quarter of 2010 (46) and 28 per cent fewer than were issued in Q2 2011 (64).
The UK-wide FTSE sectors with the highest number of profit warnings this quarter were general retailers and media with six, and software and computer services and construction materials with five.
Ian Best, restructuring partner at Ernst & Young in Birmingham, said: "Undoubtedly, part of the drop is due to limited growth in the UK economy which, when combined with operational efficiencies, is helping companies to meet profit expectations.
"However, it is also true that these profit expectations have been scaled back significantly over the summer, hit by escalating fears of a double dip."
