Maintel issues profit warning, halves dividend

Cloud and managed services company Maintel Holdings warned on Thursday that full-year revenues and adjusted underlying earnings would be lower than expected as its dividend was halved .

Maintel said it now expects revenues of approximately £123m and an adjusted core earnings of approximately £10.8m.

The company cited a protracted delay in the announcement of new public sector procurement frameworks, political and economic uncertainties and lost contracts which had weighed on the group throughout 2019.

Maintel also decided to rebase its dividend in order to maintain balance sheet strength and now expected to cut the final payout by 50% to 9.8p per share.

However, for the year ending 31 December 2020, the AIM-listed group anticipates that it will deliver "low single-digit organic revenue growth", underpinned by an improved order intake during the fourth quarter of 2019 and a return to "healthier levels" of activity in the public sector.

"A current review of measures to improve margins is expected to deliver benefits in the latter part of FY2020," noted Maintel.

As of 0930 GMT, Maintel shares had sunk 30.22% to 284.01p.