(Reuters) - British engineering group Renishaw Plc (L:RSW) on Thursday forecast a drop in annual earnings and reported an 83% plunge in first-half pretax profit, hurt by weaker demand in the machine tool sector and ongoing global uncertainties.
The engineering firm said it expects full-year adjusted profit before tax in the range of 50 million pounds to 70 million pounds, down from 103.9 million pounds last year.
"It has been a challenging trading period for the group due to the global macroeconomic environment, including the ongoing uncertainty caused by the trade tensions between the USA and China and weaker demand in the machine tool sector," the company said.
Shares of Renishaw fell as much as 4.1% in early trade on Thursday.
Its statutory profit before tax for the six months ended Dec. 31 tumbled to 9.9 million pounds ($13.01 million) from 61.6 million pounds a year earlier.
Revenue fell 13% to 259.4 million pounds, hurt by weakness across all regions, including Asia Pacific, Americas and the Europe.
The FTSE-250 company had issued multiple profit warnings last year, hurt by weak customer demand.
Renishaw, which has a market capitalisation of 3.03 billion pounds ($3.98 billion), makes precision measurement equipment used in products ranging from jet engines and smartphones to medical equipment and satellites through its metrology business.