AEA Technology today issued a profit warning which saw its top boss leave the company and its share price collapse.
Shares in the firm, which employs more than 100 workers, were trading at just 0.28p by the end of the day, a slide of more than 80 per cent.
Chief executive Andrew McCree resigned with immediate effect after the firm was hit by weaker-than-expected trading at its Washington-based business PPC.
Despite the performance of its other businesses being in line with hopes, AEA said operating profits for the 2011/12 financial year will be "significantly lower" than the board's previous expectations.
AEA Technology was originally the commercial arm of UK Atomic Energy Authority but was spun out in 1994 as an environmental consultancy and business regulation advisor. It floated on the stock market two years later.
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