Fast food company McDonald's saw profits at its 770 company-owned UK restaurants fall by 71 per cent to £23.6m last year.
The group said the fall was entirely due to a restructuring of its financial set-up, but said that it had also experienced a challenging couple of years.
Profits at the UK parent company, which adds in contributions from its 470 franchises and real estate activities, were the same as last year, at £118m, and in line with expectations, McDonald's said.
Reports filed at Companies House in the past ten days show that turnover at McDonald's Restaurants Limited fell to £1.09bn from £1.13bn a year earlier.
McDonald's said the slump in profits followed an accountancy-based restructuring involving its UK businesses.
The chain has been in the spotlight in recent weeks due to the launch of the film Super Size Me, which shows director Morgan Spurlock living on a diet of McDonald's food for a month.
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