EY RECORDS PROFIT WARNINGS FROM 65 UK-LISTED COMPANIES

EY said 65 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange issued profit warnings in the three months to the end of September. The advisory firm recorded 59 companies in the previous quarter and 71 in the final three months of 2024, the last quarter with a higher total. EY said 17% of listed companies had issued at least one warning over the past 12 months. Its research also identified weak consumer confidence as a pressure on businesses.

According to EY, geopolitical instability and policy shifts featured in 54% of third-quarter profit warnings. The firm said 38% explicitly cited effects of the conflict in the Middle East. Rising costs appeared as a leading factor in 35% of warnings, EY found. Housebuilders had issued more warnings this year than during the 2008 financial crisis, according to the research.

The figures came less than two weeks before the autumn Budget, amid calls from industry representatives for the government to avoid increases in business taxes. Jo Robinson, an EY-Parthenon partner and UK and Ireland financial restructuring leader, said: “This is not a conventional economic cycle.” Robinson said material and labour shortages, energy shocks, tariffs and geopolitical disruption had become more significant since the pandemic. She said warnings linked to policy change and uncertainty had become a regular feature of EY’s data.