Lotus Development Corp shares were on the slide early yesterday with an indicative price of $20 even against a close of $24 after the company warned that profits would not meet analysts’ second quarter estimates: Lotus said that second quarter turnover would be in the $220m to $230m range, with net profits at $0.30 to $0.40 a share compared with $0.21 per share on $186.4m a year ago; analysts had been looking for $0.52 a share but the company said that growth in the spreadsheet market was slower than expected, there was fierce price competition and growth was slower in some foreign markets as well.
