Shares of global biotechnology company Novozymes slumped Friday morning after reporting second-quarter earnings that missed analysts' expectations.
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the quarter came in at 957 million Danish krone ($147 million) with its household care sector showing particular weakness. The company still beat estimates with its second-quarter net profit and revenue, but that wasn't enough to stop shares falling in early deals.
"We've had a satisfactory first half of the year both on revenues wise and earnings wise. The factors that are pulling in our business are slightly different from what we expected," Peder Holk Nielsen, the CEO of Novozymes told "Squawk Box Europe" on Friday.
"Bio-energy not only in North America but also around the world is actually doing better then we expected. And then we have a little bit of weakness in household care but the balance of that is that we reiterate our guidance and we believe in 4-6 percent growth organically for the full year," he added.
Its bio-energy division saw sales growth of 14 percent for the period, whereas household care declined by 1 percent. The Danish company added that it was maintaining its full-year 2018 outlook on all parameters.
Shares were down 5 percent at the open Friday but soon trimmed losses to trade down 3 percent by around 8:30 a.m. London time.