Codan halves profit forecast, flags more job cuts SOUTH Australian electronics manufacturer Codan has flagged more job cuts and halved its first-half profit guidance. The company, which resumed trading today, said volatility of its gold detector sales into Africa had resulted in sales for the first half being $50 million, or 80 per cent, less than the corresponding period in the previous financial year. Civil unrest in Sudan over the control of gold fields had been one of the main factors behind the hit to its Minelab business. Codan has now revised its first-half profit guidance to be in the range of $4 million to $5 million from an earlier "subdued" expectation of around $10 million. Its share price fell 48 per cent in early trading to 68 cents. Codan's share price fell 12.75 per cent on Monday to $1.30 before a 'please explain' notice from the sharemarket regulator led to a trading halt request to update shareholders. In response to lower sales performance in this first half, management has acted quickly to realign the expense base of the company. The company said "expense reductions in the region of $10 milion per annum" have been implemented progressively over the first half across sales and marketing, manufacturing and corporate. In August, Codan sacked about 40 workers in Adelaide - out of its 300 plus base nationally - a day after it announced a record annual profit of $45 million, nearly double that in the previous year. Codan has offices at Newton, Cavan, Torrensville and in Western Australia and was to move some manufacturing to Malaysia, saving $2 million in operating costs. Codan makes electronic goods for the defence and mining sectors. New product releases, including a cheaper gold detector, will help provide "significant and solid foundation" for Minelab, while growth opportunities in the radio communications and Minetec business were also being explored, it said. The nature of some of the markets it operates in made it difficult to provide profit guidance for the second half of the year.