Getech Grp Share News (GTC)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in Getech Group PLC dropped 29% early Monday as it warned that it expects its first half revenue and pretax profit to be down on they year due to irregular purchasing patterns from its customers.

Getech, which provides services to the oil, gas, and mining exploration sectors, said it expects revenue for the six months to end-January to be GBP3.0 million, down from GBP3.9 million in the previous year. As a result, pretax profit will be "substantially lower" than the GBP1.4 million Getech posted in the previous year.

Getech said that it still expects to trade in line with expectations for the full year as much of its second half income has already been committed. The company expects a return to a more regular purchasing patterns by its customers in the second half.

"Whilst we have witnessed lower than expected revenue in the first half, we believe this is an industry wide issue and anticipate a return to normal demand cycles in the second half," said non-executive Chairman Stuart Paton in a statement.

Getech blamed the irregular purchasing patterns on what it called cyclical budgetary constraints. It didn't give any details of the issues.

Shares in Getech were trading down 29% at 74.98 pence Monday morning.

By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews

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