What the Sunday papers said - 10 March
The Mail on Sunday
The Punch Pub Company will delay its flotation until the autumn if it wins its £2bn-plus bid for Nomura's Unique and Voyager pub companies. The City had been expecting a float by the end of this month. Punch is understood to be interested in the Japanese bank's pub operations alongside a consortium that includes Enterprise Inns, and a clutch of private equity bidders.
Burger King proprietors have teamed up with buyout specialists Texas Pacific in a move to buy fast-food chain from drinks giant Diageo.
The Business
Hilton Group is planning to turn its hotels in Bournemouth, Brighton and Blackpool into casinos within five years of the expected deregulation of the gambling industry. The move would mark Hilton's return to casinos after it sold its Ladbrokes venture to Gala for £256m in December 2000.
The Sunday Times
Gordon Brown, acting on the recommendations of the Competition Commission, will announce tough action this week over the high street banks' treatment of their small business customers. The action follows a five-month wrangle in Whitehall over how to force banks to change their behaviour. The Big Four - Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland - control 85 per cent of small-business banking.
Directors at Cadbury Schweppes, the confectioner and soft drinks maker, have been selling shares following the recent recovery. Since the turn of the year the shares have risen from 411p to 481.5p prompting executives to top-slice holdings to the tune of nearly £1.3m.
The Sunday Telegraph
Fresh evidence that the consumer spending boom is continuing unchecked is expected when the British Retail Consortium reveals an expected surge in high street spending in February. The figures will increase pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates.
Weekend FT
Five media organisations have lost appeals against a High Court order requiring them to hand over leaked and allegedley doctored bid documents to Interbrew. The documents outlined a possible bid by the Belgian brewer for South African Breweries and were sent to news groups late last year.
The Sunday Express
Says that London's casino operators could cash in from a relaxation of arcane laws that have prevented the Capital's two dozen casinos marketing themselves effectively to the millions of tourists who descend on London every year. A White Paper is expected to recommend the changes, and London, which already has the heritage, the shows and the restaurants, could move some way towards Las Vegas in becoming a haven for casino lovers.
Publicly-quoted companies that will be announcing full-year results this week include food wholesaler Brake Brothers (Monday), club and late-night operator Chorion (Tuesday) and bar and food retailer City Centre Restaurants (Tuesday).
