Oxford Metrics shares sank on Friday after it warned that profit would fall short of expectations as a downturn in film and games production and pressure on research budgets hit demand for its motion-capture business.
The technology group, whose Vicon unit makes motion-capture systems used in entertainment, life sciences and robotics, said trading had been below its expectations since June.
It now expects to report an adjusted operating loss of between £0.5m and £3.9m for its current financial year, an extended 15-month period following a change of year-end, against market forecasts of a £3m profit, on lower revenue of £47m to £51m.
Shares were 11% lower at the time of writing, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the stock drift lower given the severity of the revisions.
Vicon’s entertainment sales were hit by reduced investment across film, television and games, including studio consolidation and weaker demand for virtual-production stages, while constrained research funding delayed purchases in health and life sciences.
Its vision metrology arm was affected by delays to a major contact-lens inspection contract. One bright spot was robotics, where Vicon has won orders from major robotics firms, including for humanoid robot development and drone tracking.
In response, the company said it was accelerating cost savings and sharpening its focus, and announced the acquisition of move:ai to speed up its push into “markerless” motion capture and recurring software, part of an ambition to become a broader “movement intelligence” platform for an AI-enabled world.
It also named a new chief executive, Stefan Lampa, joining in December, and announced a small share buyback.
Oxford Metrics said it expects profit to recover in its next financial year but the market doesn’t appear to be hanging around to find out.