March 21 (Reuters) - Shares in Moss Bros Group Plcshed a third of their value in early trade on Wednesday afterthe formalwear specialist said it expected profit for the yearending Jan. 2019 to be materially below market expectations.
Moss Bros' shares fell as much as 33.5 percent to
The profit warning was due to supply chain issues that ledto a reduction in stock availability, challenging hire sales andreduction in store footfalls, the company said.
"The more cautious consumer environment and the effect ofshort-term weather impacts, have led to a readjustment of ourprofit expectations," Chief Executive Officer Brian Brick said.
The company, however, said its does not expect its resultsfor the year ended Jan. 27, 2018 to deviate from expectations.
Moss Bros also cut its full-year 2017/2018 dividend by 32percent to
Brokerage Peel Hunt cut its rating on the stock to "hold"from "buy", but said Moss retains a strong balance sheet.
"The issue here has been largely down to stock availabilityrather than online disintermediation or consumer collapse," PeelHunt said in a note to clients.(Reporting by Radhika Rukmangadhan in Bengaluru; Editing bySunil Nair)
