Christie FY results to miss market expectations due to transaction delays

Professional business services firm Christie Group warned on Friday that full-year results were set to miss market expectations due to transaction delays.

The company said a number of transactions that had been expected to exchange in the last few weeks of this year will not now reach that stage until early 2024.

Christie said buyers and vendors actively working towards contractual exchange have signalled they plan to delay transactions into next year to avoid pre-Christmas operational disruption to their businesses. These deals would be expected to exchange early in the new year.

"The resulting market uncertainty caused by transactional delays and moving deal timings, mean that the full year result, before exceptional costs is now likely to be below current full year market expectations, but with transaction pipelines and activity much improved from twelve months ago and heading into the start of 2024," it said.

Christie said that as expected, invoicing levels have improved "markedly" since the end of the summer period. As a result, it expects to report an improved second-half performance versus the first half.

At 0810 GMT, the shares were down 16% at 80p.