Shares in Bristol and London, the luxury credit hire car replacement company, lost nearly a quarter of their value after a profit warning today.
The company, which arranges top end replacement cars such as Aston Martins, Jaguars and Mercedes for wealthy drivers involved in accidents, warned that its costs had increased.
Increasing competition was to blame, it said, and it still intended to stick to its dividend policy of one and a half times distributable earnings.
It had identified areas for savings but the impact would take some time to improve results.
It said in a statement: "Because the full impact of these savings will not materialise immediately, the outcome for the year ending 31 January 2005 may be lower than current market expectations."
The company was floated on AIM in September 2003 with a market capitalisation of £30m.
Its stock lost 33.5p by early afternoon, down 23.5% to trade at 109p. It had opened at 142.5p.
