Profits warning sees AEA stock value slump and chief executive quit

Oxfordshire-based AEA Technology, which works with governments to define environmental policy and helps businesses meet regulations, has been hit by weaker than expected trading at its Washington-based business PPC.

It also revealed it is in discussions with Lloyds about its banking facilities and said Andrew McCree, chief executive since 2005, has left the company.

Uncertainty over the group’s prospects caused AEA’s shares to slide more than 80 per cent, giving the company a market value of just over £4m.

AEA was originally the commercial arm within the UK Atomic Energy Authority but in 1994 was spun out of the UKAEA and floated on the stock market two years later.

Under Mr McCree’s leadership, it began a series of disposals that included its rail division, which made equipment to remove leaves from railway lines, and a radioactive waste packaging division. As well as contracts with Government departments, AEA has taken its energy and climate change know-how to the United States market. It currently employs around 1,000 consultants.