What the Sunday papers say - June 3
Sunday Telegraph
Punch Group is preparing a £4bn demerger as part of a restructuring to prepare both parts of the business for flotation as early as next year. It will be split into the retail business, which owns about 1,000 managed houses, and a group looking after the 4,000 leases. Last summer, it offered employess either L or M shares in either parts of the business. After the split, these will become real equity. Punch is also considering a new name for Punch Retail, which is lined up for flotation first. Chairman Hugh Osmond is expected remain in the top job at both new companies.
Belhaven Brewery's shares are recommended as a buy at 206.5p. Analysts predict record pre-tax profits on Monday (June 4) of £7.5m for the year. Read more about Belhaven Brewery from thePublican.com
Thistle Hotels' shares are recommended as being cheaper than ever at 121p. Bankers are still trying to find a buyer for the business after coming close a year ago - with a proposed deal with Nomura Principal Finance Group - before collapsing because of price.
Forty villagers have formed a company to buy the Redwing Inn in Lympstone, Devon, for £250,000 to save it from being converted into homes.
America's alcohol laws would drive anyone to drink: Mark Steyn in New Hampshire traces the outrage in the US over Jenna and Barbara Bush's attempt to buy cocktails with fake IDs.
Sunday Business
Sources close to Pubmaster, which made a hostile £453m bid for Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries on Friday (June 1), suggested "management ego" rather than price is preventing a deal from being agreed. Chairman David Thompson rejects this as a "complete fallacy". Analysts said that, if Pubmaster is to succeed, it will have to raise its bid from 480p per share to 500p. Read more from thePublican.com
Morgan Grenfell's new pub company is to sell 70 of Whitbread's 3,000 pubs, including the Dome café-bar chain. Read more from thePublican.com
Television rights to English club rugby and key England international rugby union matches are set to go to the BBC and Sky in a deal being considered by the Rugby Football Union.
Sunday Times
Pubmaster has tabled a hostile bid for Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries (W&DB) valuing the company at £453m. Management at W&DB will reject the bid. The two sides have already run up huge bills for bankers and professional advice. W&DB's board believes it can extract greater value by breaking itself up and says it has the backing of the majority of investors. Analysts believe that Pubmaster will have to increase its offer from 480p a share to 500p to succeed. Read more from thePublican.com
The amount of money lent to small businesses increased in the first quarter of this year by almost four per cent to £40bn, compared with the last three months of 2000. The figures, soon to be released by the British Bankers' Association (BBA), also show a rise of 2.6 per cent compared with the first quarter of last year. Brian Capon of the BBA says the increase is due partly to the impact of foot-and-mouth disease.
Shares in kitchen equipment group Aga Foodservice are recommended as a stock to buy at 245.5p. It has successfully transformed itself since dropping the Glynwed name, with a renewed focus and positive decision-making from management.
Glenmorangie has put behind it the problems it had in the year to March 2000, even though pre-tax profits were slightly below expectations at Charterhouse Securities. Sterling strength and a worsening economic outlook will make it difficult to raise prices (Scottish edition only). Read more about Glenmorangie on thePublican.com
After the demerger from Granada, Compass chief executive Michael Bailey has taken his first opportunity to buy shares worth £2.3m. Management are confident of a share rerating, and the shares are recommended as a buy at 521p.
The Clark Pub Company is looking to buy up to 100 pubs. It can raise up to £100m for acquisitions, although it may explore managed contracts as an alternative means of increasing the number of outlets from 13 (Scottish edition only). Read more about the Clark Pub Company on thePublican.com
Serious gaps in tax officials' knowledge at Inland Revenue advice centres have been exposed in a study. Researchers found that putting the same question to several tax offices often resulted in different answers. Sunday Times reporters made 80 calls to tax advisory centres around the country, asking each office one of eight set questions. For every 10 centres asked a particular question, between one and eight gave the wrong advice.
The Observer
New development sites have been earmarked by the Corporation of London to expand the Square Mile to cope with huge demand from international banks and to maintain the City's place as Europe's top financial centre. They include a 10-acre site next to the original Spitalfields market, the western side of Smithfield market, St Alphage next to the Barbican and the area around Farringdon station, where a new CrossRail and Thameslink 2000 station could be built.
Independent on Sunday
Fuel shortages could raise the prospect of a £4 price tag for a gallon of petrol. It follows the decision by Iraq, the world's second-biggest oil producer, to stop oil exports from Monday (June 4).
Scotland on Sunday
Belhaven Brewery is expected to report profits up for the 11th straight year this week. Belhaven's share price has been underperforming the sector in which it is a relative minnow as consolidation has continued. But analysts expect good news to provide a spur to a rally in the company's price in recent weeks. Some see Belhaven as a bargain at current prices. On Friday shares rose by 2.7 per cent to 206.5p, continuing a steady climb since the share price dipped to below 170p in May. Analysts see sales coming in in the mid £50m range, and pre-tax profits are expected to rise to nearly £7.5m, up from £6.8m a year earlier. Read more about Belhaven Brewery from thePublican.com
Sources close to Pubmaster, which made a hostile £453m bid for Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries on Friday (June 1), suggested "management ego" rather than price is preventing a deal from being agreed. Chairman David Thompson rejects this as "complete fallacy". Analysts said that, if Pubmaster is to succeed, it will have to raise its bid from 480p per share to 500p. Read more from thePublican.com
Mail on Sunday
Interbrew could offer to sell Carling and smaller brands in an attempt to win approval for its takeover of Bass Brewers, keeping control of key brands Caffrey's and Tennents. But analysts warned that there were no obvious buyers for Carling.
One of the largest shareholders in Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries, Tweedy Browne, has rejected the hostile £453m bid from Pubmaster, saying it would support a bid at 515p rather than the current 480p. It has also attacked W&DB's directors over a new share bonus scheme. Last year, directors renounced 50,000 share options at 516p after a profits warning sent shares plunging, but they were awarded replacement options a few months later at 325.5p just days after a second trading alert. Read more from thePublican.com
Bill Clinton and celebrities are promoting Britain abroad in an attempt to attract foreign tourists scared off by the foot-and-mouth crisis. The stars have agreed to lend their names to a £10m British Tourist Authority campaign starting at the end of June, funded by an emergency payment from the Government. Official figures this week will show that foot-and-mouth, together with the rail crisis and
