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LONDON (Alliance News) - Sabien Technology Group PLC Thursday warned that it now expects to post a loss of up to about GBP0.3 million for the current financial year, after some orders it had expected to receive were delayed.
In a trading update, the energy efficiency technology company blamed a revenue shortfall on a delay in the receipt of some substantial customer orders that were expected to be received in the second half of the current financial year, but which now are expected in the first half of its next financial year.
Its financial year runs until June 30.
The company said its administrative expenses for the current year are about GBP0.5 million above last year, as expected, after it increased the number of business development managers it has and also invested in new offices, overseas expansion and new product development.
It said it had added distributors in China, Greece, Pakistan, Iran, UAE, Spain, Israel, Australasia and South Africa since February.
"To date we have received initial small orders from these distributors and we expect further growth in both the size of future orders and the number of distributors in the next year," Sabien Technology said in a statement.
It added that its sales pipeline stands at GBP5.8 million, down from GBP6.6 million when it gave a trading update in February, but up from GBP4.6 million at the end of June, 2013.
"Despite the delays in orders received, the company expects to start the new financial year on 1 July 2014 with an order book of at least GBP0.5 million and this, alongside the potential for new revenue sources from the new product and from our overseas distribution network as well as the growth in the existing sales pipeline, gives the board confidence in the company's growth prospects," it said in a statement.
Despite the expected loss, the company said it expects its cash position at the end of this financial year to be about GBP1.4 million, the same as a year earlier.
"Although the reduction in revenue this year has been a source of frustration for the management team and me, there have not been any contract cancellations, only delays in the placing of orders," Chief Executive Alan O'Brien said in a statement.
Sabien currently makes the M2G boiler load optimisation control, which it claims can reduce the energy consumption and carbon emissions of commercial and industrial boilers by between 10% and 25%.
Sabien Technology shares were down 22.8% at 22 pence early Thursday, the biggest decline on the AIM All-Share.
By Steve McGrath; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @SteveMcGrath1
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