UK-listed companies issued 59 profit warnings in the first half of 2026, up from 55 in the same period last year, according to a new report by consultancy EY.
More than half of those warnings were attributed to policy changes and geopolitical uncertainty, with the Iran war emerging as a dominant factor across multiple sectors.
Since the conflict began at the end of February, two in five of all profit warnings have cited the Middle East war as a contributing factor to worsening business conditions.
Rising energy costs and fragile consumer confidence, both consequences of the conflict, have been among the most cited pressures bearing down on listed firms.
Housebuilders, retailers and leisure companies are among the sectors worst affected, according to EY-Parthenon’s profit warnings report covering the first half of 2026.
London-listed housebuilding and construction firms posted eight profit warnings in the first half of this year, including six in the second quarter alone.
That figure represents the highest number of housebuilder profit warnings since the start of the pandemic, and matches the total recorded in the first half of 2008 during the financial crisis.
UK-listed housebuilders have now issued 47 profit warnings since the start of 2020, almost double the 27 recorded across the previous 13 years combined.
FTSE 250-listed Vistry revealed a £30m first-half loss earlier this month, while London-listed Crest Nicholson posted a £35m first-half shortfall and confirmed it remains in crunch talks with its lenders.
Tim Vance, a restructuring partner at EY, said: “Many housebuilders entered 2026 expecting a gradual recovery as interest rate pressures eased and demand improved, but higher energy and input costs, weaker consumer confidence and fading expectations of further rate cuts have all weighed on the sector.”
Housebuilders have specifically pointed to rising building costs and a slowdown in demand among first-time buyers, prompting many to pull back on construction starts and land purchasing.
The UK’s travel and leisure industry has also taken a significant hit from the Iran war, posting seven profit warnings, the most among any FTSE sector in the period.
Travel firms and airlines were among the first to feel the effects of the conflict, with the likes of Easyjet warning over lower bookings and soaring jet fuel costs.
The pressure on these firms has begun to threaten their status as publicly listed companies, with Easyjet poised to exit the FTSE after facing an “opportunistic” swoop on its depressed share price.
London-listed retailers have also been unable to escape the fallout, with the Iran war named in each of the five profit warnings issued by the sector in the second quarter.
Silvia Rindone, retail lead at EY, said: “The sector remains highly exposed to external shocks, and the impact of geopolitical disruption has compounded existing pressures on costs, supply chains and consumer confidence.”
Rindone added: “While headline sales have shown some resilience, this has often been driven by promotions rather than underlying demand strength.”
The breadth of sectors affected by the conflict underlines how deeply geopolitical instability has disrupted British business planning and financial forecasting so far this year.