What the Sunday papers say - August 19
The Sunday Telegraph
Big Beat Group is to be bought by the Mean Fiddler, the music and entertainment group, for £18.5m in partnership with Peter Dyer, the owner of the Hanover Grand club in London's West End. The package includes Home superclub in Leicester Square plus 20 other bars, restaurants and clubs, mainly in Scotland. Big Beat went into receivership in April after Home was hit by problems with drugs.
Interbrew is preparing to sell the glass packaging and soft drinks businesses it acquired as part of its £1.1bn bid for Beck's beer. They are thought to be worth up to £250m.
The Independent on Sunday
Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries is to press ahead with its legal action against Pubmaster, claiming that it passed on confidential information to rivals during the takeover battle. As part of an interview with chief executive Ralph Findlay about the future, one of the brewer's shareholders has warned that the board has only a year to prove that it can come up with the goods.
The Sunday Times
Noble House Leisure, which made an abortive bid for Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries, will this week submit an indicative offer for Old English Inns, which has an enterprise value of almost £100m. The bid is being financed by private equity group Botts, financial institution Hermes and the Bank of Scotland. Colin Mayes, chief executive of Old English, has asked for offers to be sent in by Friday. Greene King, another regional brewing and pub group, is also likely to make an offer. Read more on this story from thePublican.com
Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries has made an offer to Jim Taylor, a director at PriceWaterhouse Coopers, to become its next finance director. The accountant has not yet officially accepted the position and was waiting for the outcome of the Pubmaster bid before he resigned.
Scotland on Sunday
Big Beat Group has been sold for £20m to a consortium led by music promoter Vince Power of Mean Fiddler group, Harry Lambert and the owners of Hanover Grand nightclub in London. The deal will save the 600 jobs in 21 pubs, clubs and restaurants throughout the UK after the business went into receivership in early April with debts of £30m. In a separate deal, Big Beat co-founder Ron McCulloch and a partner have bought the Home Nightclub in Cockle Bay Wharf in Sydney's Darling Harbour. KPMG liquidator Blair Nimmo selected the consortium's shelf company, Finlaw 279, as the buyer after 145 expressions of interest. Finlaw 279 has awarded a contract to Mean Fiddler to manage the portfolio. Mean Fiddler will complete a reverse takeover of its AIM-listed company on Tuesday, giving Mr Power 53 per cent of an enlarged Mean Fiddler group. The internet company, Meanfiddler.com, will acquire Mean Fiddler Holdings for £33.5m. The company also runs the Fleadh and Reading festivals, the Jazz Café in Camden, London, and the Astoria music venues. The enlarged group is also raising £8m to fund the entertainment group's European expansion.
Sunday Express
SFI's investors are slowly recovering from a market hangover following a poor response to annual figures, concerns over trading at Bar Med and a possible rights issue. The reaction was overdone, say analysts who point to SFI's 50 per cent annual earnings growth over the past five years. SFI is looking to more than double its five per cent market share of the £2.5bn high street bar market over three years. Its shares are recommended as a buy at 213.5p.
"Those Heineken ads are strange but the story of Close to You is even stranger" - details of the new TV ad campaign featuring cult celebrities and a trend for Interbrew UK reps to sing the Carpenters song down the phone when contacting licensees.
The Mail on Sunday
Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries' planned sale of high street bar chain Pitcher & Piano appears to have run into trouble. The sale was central to its successful strategy for fending off Pubmaster's hostile bid. Two months ago, Regent Inns, SFI Group and Barracuda Group were seen as likely bidders at a price of £75m, but a source claims it may end up being less than £70m. Another source suggests it may not be much above £60m. The group is reportedly considering packaging the 33-strong Pitcher & Piano chain with its Varsity student bars.
Honeycombe Leisure would be a big winner if Blackpool becomes Britain's Las Vegas following the relaxation of gambling laws. The company owns the Boardwalk pub on the promenade plus three others in the town. Honeycombe has suffered a sharp fall in its share price since it bought the Devonshire Group in March. Concerns about Honeycombe's £49m debts depressed the price, but disposals have cut this to £42m, and there are more to come. Its shares are recommended as a buy at 56.5p.
An internal document shows that Malcolm Walker, the ousted chairman of Booker cash & carry owner Iceland, knew the business was suffering a drastic fall in sales - two months before he sold a £13.5m stake.
The Observer
Organised gangs are stealing millions of pounds from pubs, clubs and amusement arcades using specially designed tools and sophisticated electronic devices to extract money from gaming machines. The gang members, who call themselves "fiddlers", can each earn several thousand pounds a day. With at least 20 gangs operating across Britain, the thefts are estimated to cost the industry £50m a year, a figure likely to grow dramatically next year when the law restricting the maximum jackpot that machines can pay out is scrapped.
Bournemouth, the former home of the blue-rinse brigade, now has more bars than Soho. Klute opened two months ago to become Bournemouth's 221st bar. The 25 clubs and 320 hotels will soon be joined by a huge new development of clubs and bars on the site of the old bus station, and a possible 4,000-capacity superclub.
Sunday Business
Pubmaster is said to be considering a bid for Yates Group.
Greene King could launch a paper and cash bid for Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries. The Pubmaster bid may have failed because it only offered cash at a time when institutions were not keen to hold cash.
