Stoke-based oatcake and pikelet manufacturer OatCorp stunned the Stoke Stock Exchange and investors today by admitting it had got its sums wrong when forecasting its profit performance for the year. The company warned that profits will be much lower than the City expected and said it had made a “mathematical error” in its business calculations.
The company's shares slumped by a third as it admitted profits for the year to the end of this month will be around £10,000, some distance short of the predicted figure of £437 million.
The company's shares slumped by a third as it admitted profits for the year to the end of this month will be around £10,000, some distance short of the predicted figure of £437 million.
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| Some oatcakes |
Kevin Featherline, a retail analyst at Keele University, described the update as the company “having dropped a bollock”. He said: “We had put faith in the company’s heartwarming growth story but are placing our estimates and recommendation under review after this latest issue.”
The company made a sparkling start to life on Stoke's stock market in 2010 but it scaled back its profit expectations as recently as February when it said its 376 outlets in Staffordshire had had a weak start to the calendar year.
The company made a sparkling start to life on Stoke's stock market in 2010 but it scaled back its profit expectations as recently as February when it said its 376 outlets in Staffordshire had had a weak start to the calendar year.
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