Premier Foods owns a number of household name brands

The firm, which is due to float on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday, has cut its share price range from between 230p and 260p to between 215p and 230p.

The move is being seen as an attempt to stimulate demand for Premier's shares.

Virgin Mobile, which is due to float on Wednesday, has denied reports that it is planning to cut its offer price.

Despite press speculation that its hoped-for listing price of between 235p and 285p a share was too high, the mobile phone operator insisted the float would go ahead.

Premier Foods said the total size of its offer would remain �300m, with dealers saying that its owner, US private equity owners Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst would now simply be selling more shares to achieve this same figure.

The food retailer, which last year reported annual sales of �774m and operating profits of �68.1m, declined to comment on the reason for the lowering of the price range for its share issue.