Anglo-Dutch food-to-detergents group Unilever cut its 2004 earnings guidance as it forecast its leading brands' performance in the third quarter would be below that of the second.
Unilever now expects low single-digit earnings per share growth in full-year 2004 after previously saying it expected low double-digit growth, it said in a statement on Monday.
The owner of brands such as Hellman's mayonnaise and Lipton ice tea said it would step up its marketing efforts to boost sales, at a time of price wars in several key European markets.
Financial analysts had already cast doubt on what they called Unilever's ambitious earnings target after second-quarter results disappointed in July.
"We now expect the development of leading brands in Q3 to be below that seen in Q2," Unilever said in a statement.
"In light of the lower sales and a weaker category mix, we expect gross margin to decline in the third quarter compared to last year. EPS in the third quarter is now expected to be lower than the comparable quarter last year," the group added.
Unilever said trading in July and August was below expectations. It also noted substantially lower sales of ice cream and ready-to-drink tea due to very poor weather in Northern Europe, continued weak consumer confidence coupled with a retail price war in the home and personal care markets in Western Europe.
Comments
Comments are closed.