Pub group Mitchells & Butlers (M&B), the firm behind the Harvester and All Bar One brands, has seen its sales growth slow as trading got tougher in the nine weeks to 17 September.
The company, which has this month rejected two offers from billionaire shareholder Joe Lewis, said that like-for-like sales growth in the period was just 0.5%, compared with 2.7% for the first 51 weeks of the year.
M&B said it expected the UK consumer market to remain "challenging" and indicated that cost pressures would remain next year, especially from energy, duty and food.
Including the impact from the major disposals made in the past 12 months, total company sales were down 9.4% against the same period last year.
M&B said it would concentrate on productivity and cost-effectiveness and had plans in relation to menu development, logistics costs and purchasing contracts.
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By Neil Gerrard
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