Volex shares fall on 'softening of demand across all sectors'

Shares in Volex, the provider of electrical, digital and optical connections, fell 27.27 per cent to 102p at 09:31 on Friday morning following publication of a trading update and news of board appointments at the company.

The group stated: "contrary to earlier expectations of growth in second half revenue, the company has experienced a general softening of demand across all sectors as well as delays in specific project timelines, which does not include our largest customer.

"As a result, we anticipate our full year revenues for the year ending 31 March, 2013 will now be in the range of $470-$485m. The full year normalised operating profit is now expected to be in the range of $11m to $14m."

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The group referenced details of an "improvement plan" including three initiatives the board had agreed to focus on at its interim results. This comprised a reduction in operating expenditures, improvements to consumer gross margins and the realisation of new revenue pipeline.

Given the reduced revenues, the group said that the board had decided to widen the scope of its cost reduction initiatives, implement programmes to better align the sales organisation with customer needs, strengthen the sales leadership and accelerate the company's move to a higher margin product portfolio.

The group further announced that Daniel Abrams would succeed Andrew Cherry as group Finance Director and Executive Director of the board on December 17th. Karen Slatford, currently a non-executive director of the company, will assume the role of Deputy Chairman.

Volex has a market capitalisation of £64.04m and provides fibre optic, high-speed copper and radio frequency cable assembles.

MF