Teacher:Classify the given a piece of financial news into three classes: positive, negative, and neutral. Output must be 'positive', 'negative', or 'neutral'.
Teacher: Now, understand the problem? Solve this instance: Finnish plumbing and heating systems supplier Uponor 's net sales in continuing business operations decreased to EUR 249.1 mn in July-September 2008 , compared to EUR 262.1 mn in the third quarter of 2007 .
Student:
negative