* Lockdowns hit sales to businesses

* Sales to businesses down 27%, overall sales down 12%

* Shares fall, down 8% on year

* To invest 2.6 bln SEK in new digital platform

STOCKHOLM, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Swedish hygiene products group Essity suffered in the third-quarter from continued weak demand from restaurants and other businesses, with sales down 12% for the world's biggest maker of hygiene products for offices.

Essity's division that makes products for offices, restaurants, hotels and schools under the brand Tork, was hard hit by the stay-at-home trend sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of distributors' bulk-buying early in the outbreak, with sales down 27% in the latest quarter.

The company is also the world's second-biggest maker of consumer tissue such as toilet paper and handkerchiefs under the Lotus, Tempo and Vinda brands as well as the market leader in incontinence products with TENA, which helped to limit the overall sales fall rate to roughly the same as in the second quarter.

Lower costs, including raw materials and energy, cushioned the hit from falling revenue and the company reported a 1% year-on-year drop in profit before amortisation and items affecting comparability at 4.1 billion crowns ($471 million).

The outlook for sales depended on the extent of further lockdowns and other restrictions: "We still haven't seen any new hoarding or panic buying, CEO Magnus Groth told analysts and journalists.

Germany's statistics office said on Thursday hoarding of toilet paper and disinfectants was on the rise again as the country faces a second coronavirus wave.

Essity's shares were down 7% at 1135 GMT, taking a year-to-date decline to 8%.

"Essity reported a weak Q3 with misses across the board," analysts at JP Morgan said in a note. "Near term challenges remain for top-line growth and profitability with risk of higher pulp costs."

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Essity unveiled plans to invest 2.6 billion crowns ($297 million) in a new digital platform.

"This will further strengthen the group's customer and consumer offerings, generate significant cost savings and reduce the need for working capital," it said. "A positive sales and earnings impact is expected gradually from 2022."

Groth said Essity, which has only a fraction of sales straight to consumers, would spend some of the money on more online stores, several in Latin America.

"What's exciting about e-commerce is that you can test things and try to find the channels that are the fastest-growing at a given time - pure-players like Amazon, retailers' platforms, or our own," Groth told Reuters.

The rival to Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark raised its target for adjusted return on capital employed to above 17% by 2025, from above 15%. ($1 = 8.7653 Swedish crowns) (Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Alex Richardson and Elaine Hardcastle)