Smart sensing firm Oxford Metrics (OMG:AIM) is on its uppers after a damaging profit warning on 23 September.

The shares slumped to their lowest level since 2018 as the company said revenue would come in at £40 million to £42 million for the 12 months to 30 September 2024 compared with consensus forecasts for £48.6 million and, as a result, adjusted pre-tax profit would be ‘materially below’ the £7.8 million previously penciled in.

The company will hope the ‘greater caution’ displayed by clients and the resulting more protracted purchasing decisions abate soon. Otherwise, there is no guarantee the opportunities which have been shunted forward actually materialise as new business.

The commentary in the trading update suggests while its Vicon, Engineering and Life Sciences units are slightly behind, the big culprit is the Entertainment division thanks to lower levels of activity in the computer game industry.

Much now rests on the firm’s motion capture technology Markerless, which is on track for commercial delivery in the next financial year. The company is at least afforded some breathing space by a net cash position of around £50 million.