The company said that it had spent 37 million on winning the contract and its loss will put a hole in future revenue projections.

And let's hope that no one there assumes that the revenue projections are correct.

Yesterday they fell an initial 3 per cent after the company withdrew internal revenue projections mistakenly put on its website that were bang in line with analysts' forecasts.

The company came to the market amid much razzamatazz, bringing in retail investors with some wildly optimistic profit and revenue projections that failed to survive contact with the real world.

Its valuations are partly based on revenue projections for its portfolio companies and on comparisons with industry peers, and both measures have fallen in recent months.