Tricorn warns on profit after problems in Energy and Transportation

Shares in Tricorn Group took a hit on Tuesday morning after the pipe and tubing specialist warned of further softening in demand and predicted second half revenue would fall around 15 per cent below the first.As such, pre-tax profit for the full-year is expected to be "materially below" the current market expectations. The group explained that since its interim results were published at the beginning of December, lower customer demand within its Energy division resulted from continued weakness in the mining and, to a lesser extent, power generation sectors.In the Transportation division, the "encouraging" ramp-up in new customer revenues in the second half for the US business was not been sufficient to offset the business lost through the latter part of the first half, which was the result of resourcing decisions made by customers at the time the business went into receivership. The slightly lower second half revenues from the UK Transportation business is expected to be in part compensated for by the growth in product revenues from the China operation, Tricorn said.It wasn't all bad news, however, with the Aerospace division expected to be broadly flat. The share price plunged 25.2% to 23p by 10:52 on Tuesday. NR