(Alliance News) - Getech Group PLC on Friday said that client trepidation had slowed sales over the last quarter, causing shares to plummet.

The Leeds-based geo-energy and green hydrogen company said its client base, 85% of which is based outside of the UK, were showing a "growing level of caution" due to economic and geopolitical instability.

Getech said this has pushed a number of projects initially expected to begin before the end of 2023 into 2024.

As a result, Getech has warned that sales for the full year are not expected to surpass GBP4.4 million, down 14% from GBP5.1 million in 2022.

Following the announcement on Friday morning, Getech's shares plummeted 26% to 5.39 pence each, having closed at 7.00 pence on Thursday.

However, the group said: "While revenue levels are expected to be below market expectations for 2023, demand for the company's services and data into 2024 and beyond is increasing".

Getech's order book stands at GBP3.7 million, and it claims to be able to convert half of this into revenues in 2024. The group also claims to have developed a "substantial pipeline" of projects across petroleum, critical minerals, battery metals and geothermal, which it calls "the strongest in recent history".

In August, the group added natural hydrogen as a new search genome to its Globe platform, a "geoscience knowledge-base" which documents geological and climate factors to predict the location of natural resources. The group has now confirmed the completion of its first project using the new hydrogen screening ability, which involved screening 32,000 kilometres squared of Eastern European mineral systems which produce natural hydrogen.

Getech has said it will "continue to add and refine new genomes to the Globe platform to support the exploration of sub-surface projects vital to the energy transition."

Getech has also undergone a number of cost-cutting measures, such as re-focusing on its strategy on its core business of locating sub-surface resources, which it claims can reduce annual running costs by GBP2.0 million.

Acting-Chief Executive Officer Richard Bennett said: "While understandable, it is disappointing that projects that we had anticipated monetising during [the second half of] 2023 are now moving into 2024. The upgrading of the Globe platform to support the location of future facing commodities such as copper, lithium and natural hydrogen, continues apace. These resources are the growth drivers for Getech and while a small part of the revenue base today, we expect them to grow significantly."

Getech's shares were down 26% at 5.39 pence each in London on Friday morning.

By Hugh Cameron, Alliance News reporter

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