Gama Aviation PLC (LON:GMAA) shares fell to earth on Thursday as the global aviation services provider lowered its profit guidance for the year just ended.
In a trading update, the AIM-listed firm said its board now expects full-year underlying operating profits to be US$3mln below its previous guidance, provided on 29 October, when it also said it expected full-year underlying profit to be US$3mln below its original expectations.
READ: Gama Aviation warns on full-year profit after weaker than expected trade across the board
That means its underlying operating profit for 2018 is now expected to be US$6mln below what the company had been expecting back in September when the group’s profit expectations for the year were unchanged.
Gama said the profit downgrade was a result of a number of factors, including accounting adjustments made by the new finance team; a lower than expected share of the profits of associated companies and positive but lower-than-forecast trading growth in the fourth quarter.
It added that that with continuing growth in the US likely to be offset by the challenging market conditions in Europe, and with M&A opportunities yet to be delivered, the company is taking a cautious approach and accordingly expects that its performance for 2019 will be similar to that delivered in 2018.
In early morning trading, shares in Gama were down 23% at 88.5p.