Here's why Telit Communications shares just plunged by almost 40 per cent

Shares in 'internet of things' enabler Telit Communications were down 40 per cent this morning after the company revealed a swing to a pre-tax loss for the first half.

The figures

The company made a loss before tax of $6.7m (£5.1m), down from a profit in the same period last year of $4.7m.

Reveune was up 7 per cent at $177.5m, but costs also rose across the board, resulting in a decline in EBITDA from $21.4m to $14.7m.

On an adjusted basis, loss per share was 0.8 cents, down from a profit of 10 cents this time last year.

The group also chose not to release an interim dividend, and would not make any promises for a year-end dividend either. Last year the interim dividend was 2.5 cents.

At time of writing, shares had fallen 39.3 per cent.

It's a crash landing for Telit, after its shares soared in its first few years on Aim.

Why it's interesting

Telit blamed its balance sheet woes on "increased investment in two recently acquired businesses" and said the costs of this would go down in the second half.

In February, the firm acquired Gainspan, which makes ultra-low powere Wi-Fi systems, for $8m.

This had a negative impact on performance, but Telit said it expects contribution to be positive in 2018.

Despite the high costs of integrating other businesses, Telit said it is still on the look-out for more acquisition opportunities as it seeks to consolidate its position in the internet of things market.

It is a market that keeps on growing, as more and more firms plan to invest in IoT technology in the future.

What the company said

Chief executive Oozi Cats said: "Our revenue growth always tends to be H2 biased but in the current year our H1 revenues were also held back by a number of factors, including delayed U.S. certifications for LTE products.

"These certifications - which are expected to be obtained in Q3 this year - in addition to several other initiatives are expected to be strong growth drivers for H2, and even more so into 2018 and beyond."

He added that the group remains confident of a strong second half performance.

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