March 12 (Reuters) - Fenner Plc, hit by a slowdownin the global mining industry, said it expected underlyingearnings per share for 2015 to be moderately below expectationsdue to a sharp fall in demand.
Shares of the company fell as much as 7 percent in earlytrade and were among the top percentage losers on the LondonStock Exchange on Thursday.
The maker of conveyor belts said it was undertaking costcuts at both its units - Engineered Conveyor Solutions andAdvanced Engineering Products (AEP) - which would result in anexceptional charge in the first half of the year.
The AEP division, which serves the oil and gas industry andnow contributes more than half of Fenner's operating profit, hasseen a sharp decline in orders, the company said.
Fenner, based in Hessle, East Yorkshire, generates 97percent of its revenue outside the UK and about 50 percent inthe United States.
The stock was down 5.7 percent at 189 pence at 0824 GMT. (Reporting by Aashika Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by AnupamaDwivedi)