What the Sunday papers say - July 29

The Observer​​

The Government has scrapped planned new curbs on smoking in pubs and the workplace after lobbying from the pub trade. It rejected advice from the independent Health and Safety Commission (HSC) for a legal code forcing all employers to ban smoking or take other measures to protect staff from second-hand smoke. Ministers told the watchdog to redraft proposals giving more ground to the pub industry and examining the use of voluntary agreements. Although a code will still be produced, anti-smoking campaigners fear it will be so watered down as to be barely worth it. The HSC will now consider other options including creating separate rules for pubs and restaurants, but anti-smoking campaigners say that is not enough.

The Three Fishes pub in Shrewsbury is one of only four pubs in the country that is totally non-smoking. It is popular with regulars and tourists, and business is up by 30 per cent in the past two years. But the campaign to ban smoking from places of work was given a boost last week by Stanton Glantz, professor of medicine at the University of California. He persuaded US states to ban smoking in all bars and restaurants. Last week he came to Britain to persuade the Department of Health and the Cabinet Office of the merits of banning smoking in all public places, and gave evidence to a Greater London Assembly inquiry on why public smoking should be banned in the capital. His visit coincided with the publication of evidence that just half an hour of passive smoking can leave the heart of a non-smoker looking as diseased as the heart of a smoker. Bars and restaurants are keen to avoid legislation. They have set up a charter group, entirely funded by the tobacco industry, to encourage outlets to set their own policies.

Sunday Business​​

Monday (July 30) is the last chance for Pubmaster to raise its takeover bid for Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries of 480p a share. Pubmaster knows it must offer at least 500p to satisfy institutional investors. According to the City, the final offer could top 510p. Pubmaster should make its final offer over 510p because, in a deteriorating consumer climate, it would stand every chance of victory.

A hundred profit warnings by quoted British companies were issued in the second quarter of this year - eight every week - according to an analysis to be published by business adviser Ernst & Young.

Stuart Broster, managing director of the LivingWell health and fitness clubs division of Hilton Group, is to step down. The move will fuel speculation that the subsidiary is up for sale, but Hilton moved quickly to deny that LivingWell is being groomed for disposal.

The US franchisees of Burger King, which is being split from drinks group Diageo, have issued a veiled threat to any potential new owner that they must accede to their demands if they are to secure backing for a takeover.

The Sunday Telegraph​​

Miles Templeman, the former head of Whitbread Beer Company, is mounting a £600m bid for Britvic. He has amassed financial support from CVC, the private equity firm, and Lehman Brothers, the US investment bank. Other bidders are thought to include RHM, the food group that was sold by Tomkins last year. It is thought to be supported by Doughty Hanson, the private equity firm. Interest has also come from Hicks Muse Tate & Furst, the US private equity firm, BC Partners and PPM Ventures, the British private equity houses. PepsiCo may also bid for the company rather than sell its minority stake if the price remains low.

Enterprise Inns' shares are now at a five-year high of 600p and recommended as ones to hold. Now is not the time to sell, with possibly a further 15 per cent rise in the short term. A recent £60m rights issue was 97 per cent taken up by confident investors and recent acquisitions will continue to drive earnings while organic growth has always been solid. With few rural pubs, it has missed the foot-and-mouth fall-out and this summer's good weather will prove a boon.

Nomura Principal Finance Group is planning to float Le Meridien as a hotel management company with a value of about £500m. The finance the acquisition of the hotels from Compass Group it is planning to sell the freeholds of the various Meridien properties and lease them back from investors while keeping control of the management company.

The Mail on Sunday​​

Pubmaster is poised to increase its bid on Monday (July 30) for Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries to at least 510p a share. Pubmaster initially claimed its bid of 480p, valuing the company at £453m, was "valid and full". An offer of 510p would value it at £481m. A price increase is likely to be financed by asset sales. The bid deadline is August 13.

Anthony Fuller, chairman of Fuller's, sold £104,000 worth of shares in the company. It amounted to more than half his stake in the business. The shares have been on a high since the start of last month when Fuller's unveiled rising first-half profits and announced plans for a share buyback. Last week's sell-off was the second time Anthony Fuller had cashed in shares since the recent price jump. In late June, he exercised options to buy 19,725 shares at 333p each and sold immediately at the market price of 517p, a pre-tax profit of almost £36,300. Other directors to take advantage of the recent high price include retail director Simon Emeny who also exercised options over 6,741 shares at 445p, selling immediately at 517p. Finance director Paul Clarke sold 1,000 shares at 520p.

Sunday Express​​

Rapists who spike women's drinks with date-rape drugs like Rohypnol could soon be caught out by a high-tech cocktail stirrer which changes colour if mind-altering drugs are dropped into drinks. The device, which will be sold for 50p in pubs, is being developed by toxicologists in conjunction with the Department of Trade and Industry and has already been shown to police.

Customs investigators are probing the role of tobacco giants Imperial and British American Tobacco in cigarette smuggling into the UK. Customs has demanded they stop supplying overseas customers suspected of involvement in selling cigarettes to smugglers who target Britain.

The Independent on Sunday​​

A special feature highlights the rise in gastropubs, driven by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission breaking the hold of the big brewers on tied pubs. Featured pubs, all in London, include the Duke of Cambridge in Islington, the Anglesea Arms in West London, the Eagle in Farringdon, the Landsdowne in north-west London, the Perseverance in central London and Punch Retail's Fire Stables in Wimbledon.

Sunday Times​​

Hundreds of thousands of lambs are to be bought, slaughtered and frozen by the government to cope with a huge surplus created by foot-and-mouth disease. The Government will then mount a campaign to encourage people to eat them.

Scotch whisky is shaking off its dusty, middle-aged image to become the must-have ingredient in European cocktails. Producers are now turning their backs on the home market - where whisky is associated with old age, sore heads, and red noses - and are concentrating their efforts on the Continent to plug their brands. They have been helped by the rise in popularity of the spirit in fashionable Mediterranean clubs and bars, where sales have soared.

The battle for Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries (W&DB) will take a vicious turn on Monday (July 30). Pubmaster directors have been in meetings all weekend, finishing an explosive final offer document that will launch a scathing attack on W&DB's management. The directors have not yet decided whether to raise their bid from 480p. If Pubmaster decides to raise its bid to 500p, it is still unlikely to satisfy W&DB's board. It is expected to pour scorn on the valuations W&DB has been giving its shares. Its offer document will claim t