Shares in Essa Australia have slumped after the minerals testing company today said it expects to book an operating loss for the first half of the 2010 financial year.
After reviewing the company's trading performance and financial results for the 2009/10 period to date, Essa said it expects revenues for the first half to be between $9 million and $10 million, more than 50 per cent below the previous corresponding period.
Essa reported $20.2 million in first half revenue for 2008/09.
As previously advised, the present conditions make it very difficult to view forward trends and sales with any transparency and hence future financial forecasts have a high degree of inherent uncertainty," Essa said in a statement.
"Nonetheless, based on the information currently available, the Board's present expectation is that Essa will incur an operating loss for 1HY10."
The company reported a net profit of $1.26 million for the first half of 2008/09.
Shares in the company dropped six cents, or 21.4 per cent, to 22c at 13:39 AEDT.
