Brammer shares hit by euro slowdown

The problem is that in the latest six-month trading period, sales per working day grew at 6.6 per cent, less than half the exit growth rate at the end of December. In fact, broker Peel Hunt notes that the growth rate slowed down to below 4 per cent in May and June and has cut its second-half growth rate from 5 per cent to 2 per cent. Reflecting this, the broker downgraded its full-year adjusted pre-tax profit estimate by 8 per cent to £37m, giving EPS of 23.3p, although this would still represent 20 per cent earnings growth year-on-year, if achieved.

It's worth noting, too, that sales growth rates in Germany, France and Spain all slowed to single digits and eastern Europe is proving problematic as Brammer's sales here slumped by 10 per cent and operating profits fell by almost a third. However, despite the slowdown, Brammer still reported group underlying pre-tax profits up by almost 20 per cent to £17.1m, while reported figures were £2.7m lower due to exceptional costs associated with the Buck and Hickman acquisition. That deal also explains the large rise in turnover in our table.