For the nine months to December, pre-tax profits slipped 13 per cent to £247 million.

Now he saw that extra profit slipping away.

In the critical fourth quarter, sales and profits slipped because the company failed to order enough of the items in demand.

Last year, profits slipped to $131,000 (in 1996 they were $184,000), and this year, for the first time, the show is running at a loss.

Its profits slipped to $69 million, from $104 million.

At the trading level, profits slipped from I£17.7m to I£16.2m.

On Wednesday, Ford reported its profits slipped 8.2 percent, to $1.57 billion.

Jones's profit slipped in 2004 and 2005, ending last year at $274.3 million.

Meanwhile, Ameritech, another regional phone company, said its profit slipped 14 percent.

On a thin day for corporate news there was no hope a profits warning from the chocolatier would slip under the radar.