Judges Scientific PLC said on Monday that delays and deferrals in orders have prompted the company to lower its expectations for adjusted basic earnings per share for the year.

Judges Scientific said it expects adjusted basic earnings per share for 2024 to range between 270 pence and 300 pence, at least 20% lower than 374.6p it had reported for 2023. Previous expectations pointed at adjusted basic earnings per share of 384.6p for 2024.

Judges Scientific’s earlier guidance included an adjusted pretax profit estimate of £34.0 million, which would be up 7.3% from £31.7 million in 2023. The company has not yet provided an updated forecast for this figure.

Shares in Judges Scientific were down 12% at 9,070.00 pence each on Monday morning in London.

The London-based company is focused on acquiring and developing assets in the scientific instrument sector. It consists of 25 businesses purchased since 2005.

The company had anticipated a stronger second half following a challenging first half, which was affected by deferred projects and ‘difficult’ market conditions. While the company says progress has been made, Judges Scientific now believes that some key orders will not be completed in time to meet revised expectations for the year.

Year-to-date organic order intake to the end of October rose by 4.2% compared to the previous year, boosted by a 2025 coring contract from Geotek. However, excluding this contract, organic order intake was down 1.6%.

The company said it remains confident in the long-term growth drivers of the business, despite what it described as a ‘disappointing trading performance’ for the year.

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