Smartphone slump sinks tech star 49pc

tECHnOLOGY firm Laird lost almost half of its value yesterday when it became the latest victim of the global slowdown in smartphone sales.

the sell-off was sparked by a surprise profit warning and marked the worst single-day drop in the FtsE 250 firm’s history, wiping more than £420m from its stock market value.

Laird said it was ‘very disappointed’ by the performance in its mobile phone component division and expected fullyear profits to be about £50m – well below the analyst consensus of about £75.5m.

the company, which dates back to 1824 and has reinvented itself from a shipbuilder to a tech innovator, makes chips used in wireless and Bluetooth devices.

it pointed towards its mobile phone division, which had seen a sales boost come later than expected.

that meant it could not record some revenues from the sale of apple’s iPhone 7 on this year’s order book.

there has also been competition from asia and margin pressures from mobile phone makers who are pushing for lower prices.

the smartphone market has boomed since 2010, but this year sales have slowed significantly. that has prompted manufacturers to pile pressure on suppliers to cut costs.

nick James, an investment analyst at numis, said he had expected Laird to benefit from the release of the iPhone 7 last month. ‘this suggests that the structural positioning of Laird within apple has changed, most likely due to stronger competition,’ he said.

tony Quinlan, Laird’s new chief executive, said: ‘We are very disappointed by these adverse developments in the mobile devices market for our performance materials division, at a time when other parts of the business continue to perform well.’

Quinlan stepped up from his chief financial officer role in september, following the surprise exit of former boss David Lockwood.

Lockwood jumped ship to defence group Cobham, sparking a fall in share prices at Laird.

the company said it would take measures to reduce cost and manage cash in its specialist performance materials unit, which makes the mobile phone components.it also produces parts that stop smartphones or tablets from overheating and interfering with other devices.

it has sought to expand its automotive division, which makes antennae for vehicles, to reduce its reliance on the smartphone division, which currently accounts for about half of all revenue.

turnover in the third quarter was up 29pc to £207m, but that was driven by acquisitions and favourable currency movements after the Brexit vote.

On an organic basis and at constant currency, sales were down 4pc. and revenues from its performance materials division fell 5pc.

Quinlan told analysts the problem with samsung’s note 7, which has suffered from battery fires, had not helped, but said the impact on Laird had been ‘relatively’ small.

shares closed down 48.7pc, or 150.1p at 158.4p.

Laird is one of a host of British technology companies which make parts for smartphones.

Earlier this year, mobile microchip manufacturer arm Holdings – seen as the jewel in Britain’s tech crown – was bought by Japanese firm softbank for £24bn.

But in July, fellow chip business imagination technologies caused concerns by posting the biggest loss in its 30-year history.