Dutch-British food giant Unilever said it was cutting its forecast for growth in the sales of key brands such as Magnum ice cream, Lipton tea, Knorr soups, sparking a slide in its shares.
The company said it now expected its leading brands to grow by 4% instead of its previous estimate of 5-6% this year. But it said it was on course to meet its earnings targets for the year.
Unilever, the world's third-largest food firm after Nestle and Kraft, said the integration of previous acquisitions such as US firm Bestfoods was delivering some cost savings, which was likely to help cut costs by about €700m this year and next.
At the same time it said its new buying programme would create a further €600m reduction in Unilever's fixed costs.
Shareholders were unimpressed and shares in the company plunged 11% in London today.
