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Midwich Group PLC on Tuesday warned its annual profit will be ‘materially below’ expectations, as it grapples with tough market conditions in the face of tariffs and economic uncertainty. Midwich shares fell 6.7% to 196.00 pence each in London on Tuesday morning. The audiovisual technology company has seen a mid-single-digit percentage decline in organic revenue in the year to date, Chair Andrew Herbert will tell the company’s annual general meeting. The decline has come despite Midwich ‘achieving record market share with many of our key vendors’. ‘The challenging market conditions in 2024 have continued into 2025, with increased tariffs and macro-economic uncertainty adding further to these headwinds,’ according to Herbert. Norfolk-based Midwich serves customers in business areas such as education, live events and retail & leisure. It also has corporate customers, for whom it offers solutions that can be used in meeting rooms and receptions. Herbert said: ‘In the year to date, the group has delivered revenue growth in the UK&I, which is up mid-single digit year to date, but this has been offset by declines in both EMEA and North America, which is primarily attributable to softer corporate and education demand and some supply chain disruption. ‘Whilst gross margins have improved slightly year to date, the lower revenue, combined with ongoing operating cost inflation, has resulted in a significant decline in operating profit. The group is proactively increasing its market share and accelerating sales activity by deepening both its customer and vendor relationships. There is also a strong focus on reducing overheads and capital expenditure through both near term actions and ongoing investment in automation and productivity.’ Midwich believes it is ‘prudent to assume that trading conditions will remain challenging for the rest of 2025’. As a result, it expects adjusted operating profit for the full year will be ‘materially’ below previous expectations. ‘Both industry data and the benefit of encouraging new vendor relationships launched in 2024 mean that the board continues to expect trading for the current year to have a higher weighting to the second half than prior years,’ Herbert added. ‘Over the coming years, we anticipate there being significant opportunities to continue growing faster than the overall market, both organically and when appropriate through acquisition and we remain excited by the long-term prospects for the business.’ The company will provide a trading update for the first half of 2025 on July 21. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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