Shares of Essentially Group lost a quarter of their value yesterday after a profit warning from the sports marketing and management group. They dived 1¾p to 5¼p after Essentially said that delays to some key contracts meant that annual profits would be less than expected.

The company – whose clients include Dan Carter, the All Blacks’ stand-off half, Brian Lara, the West Indies cricketer, and Jenson Button, the Formula One racing driver – also gave a warning that it was cautious about prospects for 2009.

Bart Campbell, the chief executive, said that Essentially’s sports marketing unit had been hit by an increase in the time it was taking to negotiate rights sales, along with pressure on the prices being paid for rights.

He told The Times: “There are around four or five contracts which we would normally expect to have dropped by the end of the year but which we have not yet received. We are just being ultra-prudent.”

Mr Campbell said that the deals delayed included a new rugby contract and the renewal of the Renault Formula One roadshow in Gauteng, South Africa. The third big delay relates to a package to sponsor and run a blimp above Indian cricket grounds. Essentially is the exclusive owner of Aerial Camera Systems, which, sponsored in Britain as the Betfair Blimp, is a mainstay of UK cricket coverage.

Mr Campbell said that the blimp had been due to be showcased during England’s present tour of India – itself under a shadow after the terror attacks in Mumbai last week, which prompted the England team to fly home, if only temporarily – but this would not now be happening. He added: “Our challenge is to procure a sponsor. The Indian TV people like the idea but there are only a finite number of these things, they need an eight-man crew and maybe we were a little too aggressive in our pricing of it.”

The news comes three weeks after Essentially paid £258,000 for the right to manage 40 of South Africa’s top rugby players. Three months ago it bought Arundel, the management and advisory firm founded by Alan Smith, the former Crystal Palace football manager, and Alec Stewart, the ex-England cricket captain, bringing a host of other stars to its stable. These include the England cricket internationals Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell and Matt Prior, and from football Gareth Southgate, the Middlesbrough manager, Freddie Sears, the young West Ham United midfield player, and Rory Delap, Stoke City’s throw-in expert.

Mr Campbell said that, despite the tough trading environment, he was reasonably confident for 2009. He went on: “We are still selling packages, such as next year’s British and Irish Lions tour, the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai and the Ashes. Some 95 per cent of those properties are all forward-sold.”

He insisted that last week’s terror attacks would have no impact on the popularity or commercial success of cricket’s Indian Premier League.

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