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We have tracked profit warnings from UK-registered companies since 1999, giving us powerful insight into business, capital and economy.
What is a profit warning?
A profit warning is an official statement to the stock exchange from a publicly listed company that says that it will report full-year profits materially below management or market expectations.
Our analysis of UK-registered companies listed on the UK’s Main Market or Alternative Investment Market provides you with insights into profit warning trends and key economic, sector and market issues facing UK businesses. You can delve into the latest quarter’s findings and access over 17 years’ worth of data at the click of a button through our console. Use our profit warning data to understand trends and identify the forces affecting your market and reshaping your path ahead.
UK-listed companies issued 71 profit warnings in Q4 2024, marking an 8% decrease year-on-year, with the percentage of companies issuing warnings remaining steady at 6.4%. In 2024, nearly 19% of UK-listed companies issued profit warnings, the third highest total in 25 years of analysis by EY teams. Notably, three of the six highest annual levels of profit warnings in the last quarter-century occurred in the last three years.
The persistently high levels of profit warnings can be attributed to an extraordinary succession of forecasting challenges since the pandemic. In 2024, the primary challenge was the impact of uncertainty on corporate spending, which triggered record levels of profit warnings. However, our analysis suggests that forecasting struggles are not solely pandemic-related.
This indicates the need for a deeper examination of the forecasting process and how companies are adapting to longer-term changes in the economy and their markets.
