Coral Products warns on profits after automotive slowdown

Plastics manufacturer Coral Products warned investors on Tuesday that its full-year results were set to be "materially below" expectations setbacks in the auto and retail industries.

Despite a "strong recovery" in the first half of its trading year and an "encouraging start" to the second half, Coral revealed that a number of key factors had adversely impacted its performance in the latter part of the second half.

Coral, which manufactures and distributes plastic injection, extruded and blow-moulded plastics for sectors including food packaging, personal care, household, healthcare, automotive, telecoms and rail, was hit by a downturn in business generated from the automotive industry and significant delays in delivery of totes ordered from a major online retailer in the period.

As a result, the AIM-listed group now expects its results for the year ending 30 April to be below both management and market expectations.

In the six months to 31 October 2018, Coral reported a profit before tax of £582,000. This was followed by a loss in the four months to 28 February 2019.

As of 0820 GMT, Coral shares had crashed 38.78% to 7.50p.