Fenner warns over profit due to slowdown in coal industry

(ShareCast News) - Fenner's full-year earnings will be slightly below previous guidance as the company's conveyor belt business suffers from a slowdown in spending in the coal mining industry.The engineering company said demand levels for ECS products and services in North America are reflecting sequentially lower production levels in the coal mining industry, the impact of which is being partially offset by good progress and generally improving demand from the bulk materials sector.In Australia and Asia Pacific, it said ECS has continued to see volume and price declines as the mining industry responds to the deteriorating outlook for commodities, while trading in EMEA has also remained under pressure.Still, the company said the strong performance by the industrial, medical and other non-oil businesses within its Advanced Engineering Products division should continue for the remainder of the year.It expects that for AEP as a whole, the outcome for the year will be in line with management's previous expectations."Leading indicators in the mining and energy industries are not yet showing any signs of recovery and we anticipate the recent challenging market conditions will continue."Nevertheless, we remain encouraged by the focussed way in which the ECS and oil and gas businesses are responding to cost management initiatives," Fenner said.At 12:48, Fenner shares were up 0.6% at 183p.