Engineering Sector Steels Itself For 'rocky Ride'

摘要

Lawrie Haynes must be ruing the timing of White Young Green's rebranding this month.rnThe consultant engineer unveiled its sleek new look on 10 November but the announcement was overshadowed by a profit warning three days later.rnThe press conference to unveil the logo was hastily scrapped, although the official line was that Haynes, the company's chief executive, had been called abroad.rnEither way, the revelation that the ￡282m-turnover group's profit would be hit was the first hard evidence that things were getting tough for consultant engineers.rnFrancesca Raleigh, an analyst at Numis Securities, said it was no great surprise. "We were all expecting this, given White Young Green's (WYG) high exposure to the private sector in the UK and Ireland."rnDavid Brockton at Arbuthnot Securities said the profit warning prompted a rethink of the whole sector. "The statement showed we're probably not at the bottom yet and nobody is immune. Growth forecasts will need to be tempered."rnHe subsequently changed his "buy" recommendation to "neutral" on fellow consultant engineers Hyder Consulting, Scott Wilson and WSP.rnA look at the numbers shows that the support services sector has underperformed in the stock market by 8% over the past two months.