Shares in Zinc Media Group tumbled 13% to 49.25p after the TV and content producer warned that the war in Iran would push around £7 million of planned production into next year.
It is an unwelcome dose of disruption for a business that has little to do with the Gulf, but which is nonetheless feeling the ripples.
The group now expects revenue of £38 million for 2026, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £1.4 million.
The first half bore the brunt, with revenue sliding to £13.2 million from £22.9 million a year earlier, as £8 million of sales, worth £3 million of gross margin, slipped into the second half, largely thanks to the war.
That tipped Zinc to an adjusted pre-tax loss of £1.5 million, from a £0.2 million profit.
There were, however, some brighter spots beneath the headline.
Gross margin improved by seven percentage points to a healthier 44%, and the group is chasing more than £1 million of annual cost savings.
By 18 September, Zinc had £32 million of revenue contracted for this year, with another £6 million at an advanced stage.
Less cheerily, cash dwindled to £2.8 million from £4.2 million, leaving the group with net debt of £1.1 million, having previously sat on a net cash cushion.
The hope now is that the delayed work simply arrives a little later, rather than disappearing altogether.
