Brewer Heineken is set to restate profits for Scottish & Newcastle by up to 10% after discovering discrepancies in the groups accounts, it was reported today.

Top executives at Heineken, which acquired Scottish & Newcastle earlier this year, are understood to have been meeting City analysts to warn them about the restatement when it reports half-year results at the end of August, according to reports today.

Heineken is thought to be still studying the accounts and has not yet put a figure on the scale of the restatement.

But City analysts are understood to think profits made by the group could be cut by up to 10% from 2007 onwards.

The issue is thought to have arisen because Heineken has traditionally taken a more stringent approach to accounting than its Edinburgh-based rival.

There is no suggestion that S&N acted outside of accounting regulations, but rather that they simply took a different approach to Heineken.

It was not possible to contact Heineken, but a spokeswoman confirmed that the group was in the process of comparing its accounting policies with S&N's.

She said: "We are in general more conservative than S&N."

S&N made revenues of £1.86 billion in Britain in 2007, with an operating profit of £123 million.

S&N was acquired in a £7.8 billion takeover by rivals Heineken and Carlsberg in April.

Heineken took on the group's UK operations and its businesses in Portugal, Ireland, Finland and Belgium.

Meanwhile Carlsberg took S&N's stake in BBH, their fast-growing 50/50 joint venture in Russia and the Baltics, as well as the firm's operations in France, Greece, China and Vietnam.