Shares in Bodycote fell more than 14 per cent this morning after the engineering group warned that full year profits would miss expectations.

The group, which makes parts for plane and car makers, said revenue for the six months to June 30 was down 30 per cent and that it expects to make a marginal operating loss due to weak demand from the car, aerospace and oil and gas markets.

The group, which said in February it was cutting about 1,500 jobs and closing or combining 31 sites, said there had been a modest improvement in demand from the car industry, albeit from very depressed levels, and that its customers were likely to stay closed for longer over this summer than last year.

As such it warned that a short order book, continuing uncertainty in market conditions and poor visibility meant it was anticipating earnings before interest and tax to be “materially below” the recent market consensus of about £24 million.

Michael Blogg, an analysts at Arbuthnot, said: “Today’s trading update for H1 2009 is substantially worse that we would have expected and we anticipate that our earnings estimates for this year, and probably next year too, will be reduced by at least £25 million in profits and 10 pence in EPS.”

Shares in Bodycote dropped 18p to 107.25p.

Overall, the FTSE 100 fell 25.6 points to 4,133.0, edging closer towards the 4,000 points barrier amid continued pessimism and about the global economy and weak summer trading.

Energy groups weighed on the index, with BP down 4.4p to 459.75p and Royal Dutch Shell falling 20p to £14.39 as the price of a barrel of oil fell below $60.

Elsewhere, Liberty International, the retail-focused commercial property group, rose 2.75p to 284.25p after UBS upgraded its rating on the Covent Garden owner to neutral from sell, noting it had been sold-off more than its peers in recent weeks.

In Europe, Germany’s Dax fell 3.23 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 4,626.84 and France’s Cac-40 lost 8.25 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 3,017.69.

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