SHARES in food group Heinz slipped in Friday's trading after the company headed by Dr AJF O'Reilly warned a meeting of food industry analysts in Dublin that their earnings forecasts for the quarter just ended were looking over optimistic.

Heinz said earnings per share for its fiscal first quarter to July would be on last year's 46 cents, based on net income of $174.5 million, but slightly below forecasts of about 51 cents. Analysts were left revising their forecasts downwards to about 48 cents.

Heinz said the shortfall had been caused by the implementation of a company policy to reduce the impact of quarterly sales loads, a term used to describe a US food industry practice of increasing volumes at the end of the quarter by offering discounts to retailers.

Dr O'Reilly said Heinz was determined to control the high cost of end of quarter sales loads. Discontinuation of the practice would mean a short term reduction in sales, but should result in better returns on capital and greater efficiency. Heinz continued to expect double digit earnings growth for the full year.