Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- European stocks fell for a fourth day as slower profit growth at Pernod-Ricard SA weighed on food and beverage companies and some investors speculated plans by the world's largest central banks to inject $247 billion into the financial system won't be enough to stop the industry's slump.

Pernod declined 9.9 percent after reporting the smallest earnings increase in three years and saying weaker economies will hamper growth. Barclays Plc retreated 5.3 percent after raising 701 million pounds ($1.3 billion) in a share sale. British Airways Plc sank 11 percent as financial-industry bankruptcies and job losses threaten trans-Atlantic business travel, the carrier's most lucrative market.

The Stoxx 600 fell 0.5 percent to 256.77, erasing an earlier gain of as much as 1.7 percent. The measure has lost 8.4 percent this week, on course for the steepest slide since the week of Sept. 11, 2001, after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy and the U.S. government had to take over American International Group Inc.

``We're faced with an extremely powerful crisis,'' said Matthieu Giuliani, a fund manager at Palatine Asset Management in Paris, which oversees about $9.5 billion. ``Investors are afraid that the injections of liquidity aren't enough, that there will be more writedowns, more bankruptcies. It's a chain of events. It looks like there's some panic selling because maybe some funds need to find liquidity.''

Banks are the worst performers among 18 industries the Stoxx 600 this year, losing 40 percent as a group. More than $19 trillion has been wiped off global stock-market value since Oct. 31 as the worst U.S. housing recession since the Great Depression and more than $500 billion in credit losses and writedowns at banks slowed the world economy.

`Elevated Pressures'

The Fed increased the amount of dollars that the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and other counterparts can offer from $67 billion ``to address the continued elevated pressures in U.S. dollar short-term funding markets.'' The Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank also participated.

National benchmark indexes declined in 13 of the 18 western European markets. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 lost 0.7 percent, while Germany's DAX gained less than 0.1 percent. France's CAC 40 retreated 1.1 percent.

Pernod, the world's second-largest liquor maker, declined 9.9 percent to 55.89 euros. Net income rose 1 percent to 840 million euros ($1.2 billion) in the year through June, held back by costs to buy the Absolut vodka brand and slowing demand for premium spirits.

Airline Stocks

Heineken NV, the biggest Dutch brewer, decreased 3.5 percent to 29.87 euros.

British Airways slumped 11 percent to 217 pence. Airlines worldwide experienced a ``sharp slowdown'' in growth of passenger numbers in July as first- and business-class travel declined, the International Air Transport Association said today in a statement.

Air France-KLM Group, Europe's largest airline, fell 3.1 percent to 15.735 euros. Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the second- biggest, decreased 3.2 percent to 14.28 euros.

Barclays retreated 5.3 percent to 301 pence. The U.K.'s third-largest bank sold 226 million shares at 310 pence apiece one day after agreeing to buy Lehman's North American investment- banking unit. The offering, announced earlier today, was managed by Credit Suisse Group, Deutsche Bank AG and JPMorgan Cazenove Ltd. The sale was limited to institutional investors.

Lloyds TSB Group Plc, the bank that considered buying Northern Rock Plc, sank 15 percent to 237.5 pence after it agreed to acquire HBOS Plc for 232 pence a share, or about 12.2 billion pounds, to create a lender that controls more than a quarter of the U.K. mortgage market. HBOS soared 17 percent to 172.6 pence.

Cargotec, Immoeast

Cargotec Oyj retreated 9.8 percent to 16.50 euros as the world's biggest maker of container-lifting equipment said its operating margin would fall below the 7.3 percent posted last year, a downgrade from earlier estimates that predicted profitability would improve.

Immoeast AG plunged 39 percent to 1.86 euros. Austria's largest developer reported a loss for the first quarter of 53.6 million euros as the value of its properties in central and eastern Europe declined.

Immoeast and Immofinanz AG, which owns 54 percent of the developer, said they are unaffected by the bankruptcy of Lehman. The Vienna-based companies, responding to speculation, said neither of them invested in assets owned by or linked to the U.S. securities firm. Immofinanz sank 36 percent to 2.75 euros.

Kingfisher Plc climbed 9.7 percent to 131.4 pence. Less discounts helped first-half profit at Europe's biggest home- improvement retailer to top analysts' estimates even as U.K., Irish and Spanish house prices declined.

A report today showed retail sales in the U.K. advanced 1.2 percent in August. Economists had forecast a 0.5 percent drop, according to the median in a Bloomberg News survey.

To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 18, 2008 12:52 EDT