Publishing Technology dives on profit warning and denial of takeover talks

28th Nov 2013 11:45

Shares in Publishing Technology plunged on Thursday after the group admitted its results for 2013 will be below market expectations and confirmed there have been no takeover talks, contrary to recent speculation. The share price plummeted 36% by midday trading following the announcement. Describing the result for the year as "disappointing", the company, which provides content systems, audience development and content delivery software, blamed delayed completion of "some very large and complex new product projects" and additional research and development initiatives for the profit warning. The company said that it was aware of recent speculation of takeover discussions, but said it had not received either a formal or informal approach and as such no discussions had taken place. However, the group did stress that its outlook for 2014 remains for a steady improvement in recurring revenue from new products and services, albeit with a decline in the rate of investment in research and development. Recurring revenues in 2014 are expected to be boosted from the current implementations and recent and upcoming go lives in both pub2web and advance divisions, it added. Chief Executive George Lossius said: "There are an exciting number of on-going or newly live projects internationally which I believe will create a step change in our business in the year to come. "Whilst the outcome for 2013's revenue and profit is disappointing in the short term, I believe the additional investments made in the products to keep apace with industry changes, and the lessons learned on the very large and complex pub2web implementations will prove to be invaluable for the group going forward."NR