Pity the poor Irish Continental shareholders who have seen their shares touching new lows, with little prospect of improvement.

The profits warning from the company last week after worse than expected first half figures took the market by surprise.

The shares fell quickly from a pre-announcement level of €8.75 to their current €7.05, a new low for the year and well off this year's high of €12.50.

After a first half loss of €4.7 million, the full year result will at best be profits of €19 million.

Earnings per share forecasts have been slashed from 100 cents to 60-70 cents.

It could be worse. At least the group is profitable, unlike some of its competitors.

But management cannot esc ape criticism for the performance.

Chief executive Eamonn Rothwell blamed the loss of duty free sales, fuel cost increase and the costs of extra capacity for the deterioration.

Fuel costs were out of his control, but the loss of duty free sales was well flagged and shareholders should ask what management did to replace this profit source.

The ferries operator seems to be pinning its recovery hopes on the removal of capacity from the industry on a timetable it says it cannot dictate.

But shareholders should expect a more aggressive stand from the group, which has invested heavily in capacity in recent years.