UK listed companies issued 137 profit warnings in the first six months of 2014, the highest figure since 2011, according to a report from Ernst & Young.
Profit warnings from UK companies were up 9 per cent from the same period last year.
The sectors affected the most were support services and software and computer services with seven profit warnings from each.
Increased competition and pricing were the main causes of the rise in profit warnings, according to the report.
In the period 19 per cent of profit warnings blamed competitive pricing pressures, compared with 7 per cent in the previous year.
Keith McGregor, Ernst & Young’s capital transformation leader for Europe, Middle East, India and Africa, said: “The low level of insolvencies means companies are competing in a packed and competitive market place, lowering the normal level of returns”.
Elsewhere, more than a fifth of profit warnings cited adverse currency movements as the trigger, compared to 3 per cent last year.
Mr McGregor said: “The pound’s leap to multi-year highs has caught out a number of companies who translate foreign earnings back into pounds.”
The worst could be ahead, according to Mr McGregor, who warned the new monetary era “will bring new tests and greater volatility as markets begin to re-price risk”.
