Oxford Metrics today posted a dip in sales and profits which the sensor and software maker said was “reflecting the trend of extended buying cycles.”

The Oxfordshire-based business posted revenues of £41.5m for the year to end September, a fall of just over 6% compared to the previous year, while adjusted pre-tax profits were more than halved to £3.7m.

The London-listed company said: “As we moved towards the end of the financial year, we saw customers across our markets exercising greater caution with purchasing decisions taking longer to conclude.

“The Entertainment segment was impacted most reflecting the widely reported slowdown in the global games industry and subsequent content creation contraction along with delays in academic funding in both the Engineering and Life Sciences segments.

“While the closing months produced a disappointing result overall for Oxford Metrics, this year the group has made clear operational progress.”

The business performed strongly in the UK and Europe, which saw a rise in sales of 34% and 11% respectively. But this was more than offset by declining turnover of 7% and 35% in the US and Asia, which the company put down to a “slowdown in the global games industry.

The results come amid a challenging period for the 40-year-old designer of smart sensors and software for motion measurement which has seen its share price more than halve since the start of the year.

In September the company slashed its guidance for the rest of the financial year, warning figures would come in “materially below” current market expectations after warning on the ‘greater caution’ it was seeing among customers.

In October the company acquired measurement specialist Sempre in a £5.5m deal and said it was in a “healthy cash position to execute on our M&A ambitions.”

Today the shares rose 2% to 53p in early market trade.

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