The global slowdown will trim €600m from GdF-Suez profits this year, the recently merged French gas and electricity group said on Thursday after announcing a 6.3 per cent drop in net interim profit to €3.3bn ($4.7bn) for the first six months.

Jean-François Cirelli, deputy chairman of the French utility, said “a reduction in industrial activity” had depressed gas sales in the first half and this was expected to continue into the third quarter.