Belfast-based Andor Technology, the manufacturer of high-performance digital cameras used in fields such as biotechnology and chemistry, has warned on profits for the year to September. In a third quarter update, chief executive Hugh Cormican warned full year profits would disappoint due to a short-term dip in third-quarter production, when Andor switched from manual to semi-automated processes to keep up with massive demand for its cameras. Encouragingly for investors, Andor has resolved these production issues and is now scoring higher levels of output than previously possible. Furthermore, Cormican flagged up strong appetite for the group's new 'Newton' product, 'the world's first spectroscopic camera with electron multiplying CCD technology', and said the current order book is 45% higher than at the interim. Andor's first-half figures showed sales up 47.2% to a record £7.5m on strong growth across all key sectors and markets, although pre-tax profits slipped from £328,000 to £245,000. Following today's warning, analysts downgraded forecast profits for September 2005 from £1.3m to £600,000 – giving earnings of 1.9p – on lower sales of £15m (£16.2m). Andor, which joined AIM at 90p a share in December, has drifted back to 99.5p from a 52-week high of 142p. That gives a very pricey forward p/e of 52.4, but Andor is a unique business that has enjoyed five years of phenomenal growth and this blip shouldn't frighten investors. We still think the shares have speculative appeal.