Drinks giant Diageo today said the foot-and-mouth crisis had hit its Burger King business.
Customer concerns about the disease had seen a knock-on effect on sales at the burger chain across Europe where memories of BSE were rife, the company said.
Diageo has been looking at selling off Burger King or floating it as a separate business on the stock market as it pulls out of its food concerns.
It said in a year-end trading update today that sales across the business "remained negative" on a comparable basis worldwide.
A restructuring programme already put in place by Burger King's new management team would mean a one-off cost of £50 million this year, Diageo said.
It also said its US-based Pillsbury business, which includes Haagen Dazs ice-cream and Green Giant, was suffering.
It said Pillsbury was being hit by the uncertainty surrounding its merger with General Mills and the US slowdown.
Diageo announced the merger of Pillsbury with General Mills last year but the deal still has to be approved by the US Federal Trade Commission.
The City is predicting Diageo will report full-year profits of £2 billion sterling in September, up from £1.5 billion last year.
PA