FireAngel warns on profits

Home safety products supplier FireAngel warned on Monday that full-year revenues were set to be below previous market expectations, dragging the group to a widened annual loss.

FireAngel said revenues were expected to come in at between £44.5m and £45m, while its underlying operating loss was expected to be in the range of £2.6m to £2.9m.

The AIM-listed group said the expected sales growth in 2019 of approximately 20% had stressed the company's processes "from production right through to customer fulfilment". This had the effect of repeatedly shaving small amounts of both revenue and margin from its full-year achievement.

The group's sales mix in the final quarter of 2019 was also expected to be "significantly different" to that previously anticipated and to meet year-end demand for certain products, FireAngel expects to incur additional costs in reworking certain stock lines for particular markets and sectors, requiring more costly air freight charges to be incurred in certain cases.

The company left its 2021 market guidance intact.

Chairman John Conoley said: "While 2019 will see a fantastic sales performance, the company is not yet efficient enough to benefit from that growth. It is disappointing for everyone to have missed the profitability target after so much hard work.

"We are strongly focussed on gross margin, EBITDA and operational cash generation in 2020 and beyond, and our current experiences with connected technology field trials underpin our optimism for future profitable growth."

As of 0900 GMT, FireAngel shares had fallen 22.04% to 9.94p.