Unilever PLC (UN, UL) may permanently abandon the practice of providing the market with full-year sales and profit guidance, as it encourages short-term thinking and may hinder the consumer goods group's long-term prospects, its chief executive said Thursday.

There is an increasing move out of providing sales and profit guidance, said Paul Polman at a briefing with reporters in London. "Companies end up chasing short-term objectives when it's not necessarily in the interests of the company long term."

Unilever scrapped its sales and profit targets in February, citing the uncertain economy. At the time, analysts assumed the company would return to providing guidance once clarity had returned.

However, Polman said Thursday that with salary and bonuses often dependent on the company reaching its sales and profit guidance, the issuing of guidance often led to short-term thinking by management.

-By Michael Carolan, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9278; michael.carolan@dowjones.com