Hampson Industries hit by delays alert

Shares in Hampson Industries crashed almost 60% today to a seven-year-low after the engineer warned that delays to aircraft programmes meant profits would fall short of City expectations.

Analysts had previously tipped Hampson to report profits before tax of about £24 million for the year to the end of next March.

In June, the company warned that its tooling business, whose customers come from the commercial aerospace and space industries, was recovering from the economic downturn more slowly than initially expected.

Hampson's shares fell 29p to 20p.