Surface Transforms shares sink after full-year sales warning

Shares in Surface Transforms tanked over 40% on Friday morning after the brake disc manufacturer slashed its sales guidance due to ongoing challenges in production lines.

Sales for the four months to 31 October were £3m, with October's £1m being the best month of sales this year albeit lower than previously budgeted.

Year-to-date sales total £6.3m, and the company is now guiding to full-year sales of £8.6m, lower than previous guidance.

The stock was down 40.7% at 13.94p by 0814 GMT, having touched a 52-week low of 12.6p in early deals.

"The previously reported technical problems have now been overcome. However, we continue to face some challenges in our production line, including single points of failure and a learning curve on the maintenance of our new equipment," the AIM-listed company said.

"These challenges, which are being resolved, are hindering us from creating sufficient capacity resilience and are constraining our production ramp up."

Surface Transforms said it now expects to reach its rquired rate of production for customer commitments by the first quarter of 2024, later than previously forecast.

"Overall, the outlook for 2024 to 2027 continues to remain very positive reflecting contracts in series production and recent new business announcements, with capacity being installed to fulfil these awards."