Photographic retailer Jessops warned today it will miss full-year forecasts after being hit by a slowdown in shopper numbers and a shortage of digital cameras over Christmas.
It is the third retailer to issue a post-Christmas profit warning, and its shares tumbled 20p to 129p, a drop of almost 14%.
Directors said underlying sales at the 315-shop chain tumbled by 6.9% in the six weeks to January 5, reversing the 4.2% gain seen in the previous eight weeks.
Analysts had been forecasting an increase in profits from £17m to around £19m for the year ending this September, but the group now expects results to be "broadly in line" with last year.
Chief executive Chris Langley said there had been good demand for digital SLR (single lens reflex) cameras over Christmas but production problems created a worldwide shortage and left Jessops unable to satisfy demand for the most popular models.
"Canon and Nikon account for around 80% of the market and unfortunately they both suffered from short-term production issues," he said.
"Even before that it was hard to keep up with demand as it was higher than expected worldwide.".
SLR cameras, which cost from around £600, tend to be aimed at the more creative photographer rather than the "point and shoot" snapper.
There has been huge growth in the market, which has been increasing at around 30% a year - "and we had been looking forward to the same trend over Christmas", Mr Langley said.
Jessops is working closely with both manufacturers to resolve the problems but Mr Langley said it would be some months before supplies return to normal.
At the same time, the market for digital compact cameras remains soft.
"While it is still early in the financial year and Jessops makes the majority of its profits in the summer months, the impact of these ongoing SLR supply problems and the continuing softness of the digital compact camera market has led the board to take a more cautious view of the year as a whole.
"Accordingly, the board now expects that the out-turn for the full year will be broadly in line with last year."
Analysts were also worried about the slowdown in shopper numbers which they attributed partly to a surge in online shopping.
As a result of these issues, Andrew Wade at Seymour Pierce cut his forecasts for pre-tax profits this year to £17m from £18.5m, and to £19.2m from £20.4m for next.
Jessops is the third retailer to warn on profits this year.
Although the retail sector generally has fared better than some had feared, there were warnings last week from Blacks Leisure and Games Workshop.
Woolworths and HMV both issued profit alerts in the run-up to December 25.