The Price of Uncertainty

One in six UK quoted companies issued profit warnings in 2018 – the second-highest level since the end of the last recession, with a great increase in 'new' profit warnings from companies who hadn’t warned in the last year, finds this report by EY.

Key points include:

In Q4 of 2018, 74 percent of companies issuing profit warnings hadn’t warned in the last year, the highest proportion of ‘new’ companies warning in over eight years, raising the EY Profit Warning Stress Index to 87 in Q4 2018, up from 72 in the previous quarter
Structural change and rising uncertainty were the two major themes that drove higher profit warnings in 2018
The FTSE sectors with the highest number of profit warnings in 2018 were: General Retailers; Travel & Leisure; and Support Services
Rising uncertainty continues to affect B2B spending, with almost a third of profit warnings citing contract issues in Q4 2018 – the highest for ten years

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