Vocus issues another profit warning

Shares in Vocus Communications fell almost 30 per cent following the telecom operator's second profit warning in six months, as management grapple with a raft of problems following its rapid expansion.

Australia's fourth-biggest telecommunications company - owner of retail brands including dodo and iPrimus - blamed the latest downgrade on issues including revenue delays from contracts on major projects and lower earnings from its recently launched New Zealand energy retail business.

Lower than forecast billings and higher staff and technology costs were also a factor.

In an announcement after Tuesday's market close, Vocus warned its annual underlying earnings would be down as much as 19 per cent to between $365 million and $375 million for the year ending June 30.

In November the company downgraded earnings expectation to between $430 million to $450 million.

Underlying profit after tax could be down as much as 26 per cent to between $160 million and $165 million for the year ended June 30, from its previous forecast of $205 million to $215 million.

Vocus also flagged that annual revenue would be down about 5.3 per cent to about $1.8 billion, from its previous estimate of $1.9 billion.

Investors pushed the stock to a three and a year low of $2.36 in early morning trade this morning, wiping $614 million off its market capitalisation.

Vocus shares closed 27.1 per cent lower to $2.44 each.

Vocus's November downgrade was blamed on its most recent acquisition of national fibre telecom network, Nextgen Networks, with the company saying Nextgen would not contribute as much as to 2016/17 earnings as initially expected.

That warning sparked a share price fall of more than 15 per cent on November 29.

The acquisition of Nextgen, plus rivals M2 Group and Amcom helped the group deliver a near doubling in first-half net profit to $47 million in February from $24 million a year ago.

Vocus' interim revenue jumped five-fold to $888 million.