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Vesuvius issues profit warning

The engineer has been hit by weak automotive demand
October 15, 2019

Vesuvius (VSVS) shares fell by over a tenth after the engineering group lowered full-year expectations for its trading profits. 

IC TIP: Hold at 361p

In a third-quarter trading update, Vesuvius announced that trading profits for its financial year were likely to come in between £180m and £190m – below a market consensus of £205m. It reiterated its commitment to achieve a return on sales target of 12.5 per cent, although Vesuvius added that “this is unlikely to be delivered until we revert to long-term growth trends”.

The company observed that steel producers have announced annualised production cuts equivalent to around 4 per cent of 2018 volumes since the end of June.