* Dismisses CEO and three senior managers
* Says execs operated a competing business
* Sees annual profit below expectations
* Shares down 25 percent (Adds detail, comment from chairman, share price)
By Lorraine Turner
LONDON, June 17 (Reuters) - China-based Jetion Holdings has sacked its chief executive and three senior managers, saying they had ties to a local competitor that put them in serious breach of their contracts.
London-listed Jetion, which makes and supplies solar cells, also warned on Wednesday that sliding prices meant full-year profit would miss its expectations, helping send shares in the company reeling as much as 42 percent lower.
Jetion said in a statement it believes Chief Executive Roger Lijin Gai and three unnamed managers of its Chinese trading subsidiary are the "operators of a business in direct competition to Jetion".
Gai could not be reached for comment. A message to his work email address bounced back; a company representative said he was travelling on business.
Jetion's Chairman Gabriel Kow, who will act as interim chief executive while a replacement is sought, told Reuters he would not have opted for such drastic action had he not been confident the allegations were well founded.
"If I didn't have sufficient evidence, I could be sued for libel," he said by telephone.
According to Jetion, public records show Gai's wife is a shareholder in the competing business, Wuxi Sundy, which is also a producer and exporter of solar modules. Close relatives of the other three managers are also shareholders, the company said.
"The board believes that, by their involvement in this business, these individuals have committed serious breaches of their fiduciary duties to the company and have material conflicts of interest," said Jetion.
The company, based to the north of Shanghai, said it continued to investigate the affair and was taking legal action.
Jetion said it was confident there had been no direct, significant impact on business, but warned that sliding prices for its products would hit profits this year.
While sales volumes were "substantially" ahead of last year, unit sales prices were 40 percent below last year's level.
Pretax profits at the AIM-listed group more than quadrupled to $20 million in 2008 when a booming solar industry drove revenues to $250.9 million versus $104 million a year earlier.
Shares in Jetion were down 27 percent at 45 pence by 0952 GMT, having earlier fallen as low as 37 pence. (Reporting by Lorraine Turner; Editing by Rupert Winchester)