Scottish & Newcastle, the UK's biggest brewer, has been forced to make a special one-off contribution of £200m (€289m) to cover a deficit in its pension fund. The amount is equivalent to more than half the £373m of pre-tax profits for last year, posted by the group today.

Scottish & Newcastle, led by chief executive Tony Froggatt, said the one-off pensions injection increased its net debt position as of the end of last year to more than £2bn.