An interim management statement from the firm covering the last five months said: “Our traditional commercial construction-facing business has been subdued over the winter in the UK and Europe.

“As mentioned in our interim results, we are seeing increased activity amongst UK architects and specifiers which gives us cause for optimism in the mid term, but short term orders have been slower than we expected.

“As a result of these revenue shortfalls, combined with the operational gearing of the company, the strengthening pound and the effects of continued investment in sales and new product development, both revenues and profits for the year to 31 March 2014 are now expected to be materially short of current market expectations.

“Profit before tax is expected to be in a range from £6.5 million to £7.5 million.

“Although these setbacks are disappointing, we are confident that our strategy of investing in the sales team and infrastructure of the business is the right course.

“The benefits of our recent investments will take time to reach their full potential but we expect these to be significant.”