shares plunge on warning from forward

Ray Chamberlain, chairman of forward group, saw nearly £ 33 of his personal net worth shrink yesterday because of stocks he had bought quickly --
After an unexpected profit warning, the growing electronics company collapsed.
Forward, one of Europe\'s largest manufacturers of printed circuit boards, said,
The demand for its products and the higher cost means that it will break effectively-
Even in the second half.
For a group, the news represents a sudden shift that combines its warning with the news that profits have tripled in the first half of the year.
Share prices plunged from 281.
5 p to 132 p yesterday.
Chamberlain saw his stake in the company plummet from £ 61. 7 metres to 28 lbs.
9 m, put on a brave face on his question.
In a statement, he announced a mid-term dividend increase of 25 to 1 p and reported \"encouraging prospects of 1997\" after a series of meetings with key clients \".
In addition to encouraging forecasts for the European printed circuit board industry, \"I still believe that 1997 will prove to be a successful year for the Forward Group,\" he said . \".
But the broker said pre-
Tax profits soared from 2. 01 m to 6 lbs.
In the six months ended July, 21 million was the last that the group could see this year. Previous full-
This year\'s forecast is about twice the level.
Orders, usually in 4-to six-
The weekly cycle has declined in October and November, as manufacturers overestimated the expected demand for chips and motherboards a year ago and seem to be shortening inventory.
At the same time, as the three acquisitions made so far this year are combined with other businesses, the forward aggressive expansion policy is expected to increase by £ 1 at an additional cost.
By the end of the year, 35 percentage points of assets and liabilities had risen to about 50 percentage points, and warned forward that this exceeded previous expectations.
Chief executive Derrick Bumpsteed agreed with the chairman\'s optimism.
\"Until the last quarter, things looked good when we started going through the de-storage period. . . .
I think this will run through the whole year-
The period ended until the end of January.
At the meeting with the client, there is no doubt that the situation looks good next year.
Mr Bumpsteed was accused of excessive
Last year, especially in the PC industry, customer optimism fell to 1996, and it is only now beginning to recover.
Mr Bumpsteed said that while some of Forward\'s sales went to the telecom market and defense, photocopiers, etc. were more important, the PC market often decided on the trend.
He added that the potential growth rate of eight percentage points is \"still there and still strong \".
Stephen Williams of Agent Williams de Broe halved his forecast for this year to £ 6.
25 m, rising above 10 m at 1997/98.
He said that most of the damage occurred in large quantities of terminals of the Forward business, mainly Exacta circuits and Forward circuits acquired last year.
The news shocked the market, he said, but he said orders could start picking up in December as customers prepare for next year.