Please note that it's nothing more than a suggestion, but it's the only thing I can think of that might fit (and it could work with things other than profits - it can be used with anything, though I know it's used in finance/economics). A "shortfall" means either (a) a failure to reach a certain level of something (like a financial target, for example), or (b) the amount by which something (e.g. revenues/profits made) falls short of the level or figure which was expected:

shortfall (shôrt'fôl')
n.
1. A failure to attain a specified amount or level; a shortage.
2. The amount by which a supply falls short of expectation, need, or demand.
http://www.answers.com/topic/shortfall

To accommodate it in the sentence, you might have to structure it a bit differently from the original - a common construction is "there was a shortfall of X% in Y" etc.

My surname is frequently misspelled this way, which causes me no end of annoyance - it's not the only misspelling, but let's not get into that right now :)

Try Googling it together with other relevant words.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2006-10-30 23:02:34 GMT)
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Here's one example, to illustrate usage:

"On the other hand, the airport project in Guinea-Bissau had an economic rate of return at project completion of -7.6 per cent – a shortfall of over 13 percentage points below the estimate at appraisal."
http://www.afdb.org/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/ADB_ADMIN_PG/DOCUME...