Profit warning stamps down Stanley Gibbons shares

Shares in Stanley Gibbons plummeted 10 per cent to 13.8p today, after the London stamp dealer warned it would miss profit expectations.

Chief executive Michael Hall admitted the firm's guaranteed return investment scheme was expensive in a low-interest rate environment and had contributed to the profits warning.

The company's profit for the year will still come in 20 per cent higher than the previous 12 months, and Mr Hall predicted that 2010 would be a big year for the industry as the Festival of Stamps makes its once-a-decade visit to London.

Thousands of collectors — maybe including Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova, outed last month as a stamp enthusiast — are expected to flock to Islington's Design Centre for the event in May, and Stanley Gibbons hopes to lure them to buy its wares by providing a shuttle bus to its store on the Strand.

Mr Hall said: "The Festival of Stamps will bring some of the world's biggest collectors to town and we will be ready to capitalise on that.