traffic master, the company that promises its in-car navigation technology will end the misery of traffic jams, admitted yesterday to serious production difficulties. The shares fell 7p to end 57p, a year low.
Problems started in October when the Taiwanese manufacturers of its touch-screen Smartnav product received a batch of faulty glass. Trafficmaster's chief executive Stuart Berman said: "Thousands of these units had to be thrown away."
Mr Berman insists that working products are now being shipped to the UK but some retailers have been left without any for up to seven weeks. This has meant that Trafficmaster now expects to sell 27,000 units this year – three times the volume achieved last year but less than the City expected.
As a result, Trafficmaster's house broker Bridgewell has cut its pre-exceptional, pre-tax profit forecast from £3.1m to £2.2m for this year.
The company has also failed to advertise its product enough, at the same time that competitors have been appealing to gadget-hungry Christmas shoppers.
Trafficmaster's system can only be bought and installed via car-dealers or specialised retailers.
Taiwan Greater China Fund stock quotes
Taiwan Greater China Fund stock charts
Follow this thread
