Mr Larry Goodman's AIBP Group has won a £13 million sterling (€21.25 million) contract for the supply of beef burgers to Burger King in Britain.

The contract, formerly held by Global, the meat and pastry group, will be filled from two subsidiaries of the AIBP-owned but British-based Irish Food Processors.

The bulk of the meat will come from Wessex Foods in Lowestoft and the remainder from Silver Crest Foods in Co Monaghan.

The AIBP Group has not supplied the fast-food chain Burger King before, while Global has had the contract for 12 years.

An AIBP spokesman said Global had had a turnover of £13 million from the contract; what Irish Food Processors would receive could be more, depending on demand. He did not expect the contract to mean any increase in jobs.

Wessex Foods and Silver Crest Foods were big and very important parts of the Irish Food Processors' companies, the AIBP spokesman added.

The granting of the contract to AIBP means that Global's profits will be hit in the current year. However, the group is still expected to report a profit, before tax and once-off goodwill charges.

The news of the award of the Burger King contract to an arch rival comes after a profit warning by Global last September that trading had been affected by the foot-and-mouth outbreak and the cancellation of many outdoor events.

Shares in the group dropped 20 per cent or 2p after yesterday's announcement.

In September, Global reported an interim pre-tax loss of £599,000, although for 2000, the group posted profits of £5.8 million on a turnover of £160 million.

Global said it was too early to say whether jobs would be lost in the Hull plant. This plant, which employs 200 people, had been producing the burgers for Burger King.

The group recently invested £2.5 million in upgrading Hull and another facility in Goole.