Listed companies across the Midlands issued 37 profit warnings in 2024, a 19 per cent year-on-year increase, according to newly published research.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, 13 warnings were issued by companies in the region, four more than the previous quarter, and the highest quarterly total since Q4 2022, when 14 warnings were issued.
The latest EY-Parthenon Profit Warnings report said Midlands companies within the FTSE consumer discretionary sectors issued the highest number of profit warnings in quarter four, totalling nine.
This refers to companies that sell goods and services people want but don't necessarily need such as cars, hotels, restaurants and leisure.
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EY-Parthenon's research said this trend had been consistent throughout 2024, with consumer discretionary sectors accounting for 54 per cent of all profit warnings (20 warnings in total).
Dan Hurd, a partner at EY-Parthenon in the Midlands, said: "Cost pressures caused by uncertainty continued to drive an increase in profit warnings in 2024, particularly within the region's retail sector.
"As concerns about how rising costs, driven partly by increases in National Insurance and national living wage, become a reality, it is important that businesses look at how they can offset these increases through efficiency savings or price adjustments.
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"A weaker-than-expected end to 2024 means that 海角视频 economic growth in 2025 will be slower than previously predicted.
"EY's ITEM Club Winter Forecast predicts that GDP will likely struggle to accelerate beyond one per cent in 2025.
"However, real incomes should continue to rise as interest rates fall, leaving consumers more confident and likelier to spend."
One in five 海角视频-listed companies issued a profit warning in 2024.
Across all sectors, 19 per cent of 海角视频-listed companies issued a profit warning in 2024, the third highest annual proportion in 25 years, behind only the 2020 pandemic (35 per cent) and the impact of the dot-com bubble burst and 9/11 in 2001 (23 per cent).
By the end of 2024, 274 profit warnings had been issued, including 71 in the final quarter, down slightly from the 294 issued during 2023.
The leading factor behind profit warnings in 2024 was contract and order cancellations or delays, cited in 34 per cent of warnings, including 39 per cent in quarter four - the highest quarterly percentage for this reason in more than 15 years.
Increasing costs triggered nearly one in five (18 per cent) warnings in the last 12 months.