Profit pressure to weigh on Patties Patties Foods has issued a profit downgrade, citing soft trading conditions and the costs of installing new packing equipment. The pie maker said this morning it expected its full-year net profit to slide to $16.6 million down from $19.5 million from a year earlier. Patties Foods also announced it would be forced to review the future of its underperforming frozen fruits business. Shares in Patties Foods, which owns well-known brands such as iconic Four 'n Twenty, Herbert Adams and Nanna's, fell 4.7 per cent to $1.42 in early afternoon trade. The company will also have to account for $411,000 on non-recurring bad debt resulting from administration of Australian Convenience Foods. Excluding this one-off, the company's net profit for 2012-13 should be roughly $17 million. Patties Foods has faced a number of challenges to its business this year including a downturn in consumer sentiment, cut throat competition in key food categories and growing pressure from private-label foods sold by the leading supermarket chains. In February Patties Foods said a shift by supermarket shoppers to lower-priced packaged desserts had helped reduce margins for the business during the first half, leading it to cut its interim profit by 16.5 per cent. At the time the company also predicted slightly weaker profit for the full year. During the first half, the booming side of the business, which sells hot pies and other ready-to-go meals to petrol station and convenience stores, was not enough to counter the shift by shoppers at supermarkets. Patties also faced disruptions to its manufacturing due to the installation of a new robotic packaging system and a charge of nearly $1 million relating to non-recurring bad debt. The company said in an announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange today it would focus on cost control, domestic sales and improving manufacturing efficiencies. It has been a tough time for Australian retailers recently. Only two days ago Noni B warned it would post a full-year loss of as much as $4 million this financial year, due to a $5 million write-down in goodwill. Yesterday furniture retailer Nick Scali also signalled it had witnessed a drop off in new sales orders.