British medical equipment maker Smith & Nephew said today sales growth over the summer had been below its expectations.
The announcement of the below-forecast growth, which the company said was partly due to Hurricane Katrina, sent its shares lower.
Shares in Smith & Nephew, which cut its outlook for full-year sales growth, were down 6.2 per cent at 510 pence, the biggest fall in the benchmark FTSE-100 index, after touching a low of 501-1/2p.
Southern US states affected by Hurricane Katrina, such as Louisiana and Mississippi, are big business areas for Smith & Nephew's orthopaedics division.
Smith & Nephew cut its full-year forecast for underlying growth in orthopaedics sales to 17 per cent from 18 per cent, saying sales of replacement knees had also been hit by new product launches from rivals.