Parmalat Shares Hit Record Low

Shares in Italy's Parmalat slumped to their lowest level since the dairy group's 2005 restructuring, after the company cut its 2008 outlook for sales and core profit due to a worsening economy.

While Parmalat is facing a very
challenging environment, the sudden and significant change of 2008
guidance is a negative news, which comes after poor Q1 when however
the management had maintained a much higher guidance. The worsening
of the economic and financial crisis has affected the economic trend
of Parmalat Australia and Parmalat South Africa. To this situation, a
major decline of the Italian market must be added," Parmalat
said on Monday.

Parmalat lowered its EBITDA forecast in
May from a 7-10 percent range when it gave first-quarter results,
which saw an 18 percent drop in net profit due to the higher cost of
raw materials, as well as higher production and marketing expenses.