What the Sunday papers said
The Sunday Telegraph
Punch Pub Company, the 4,000-strong pub business, will this week announce plans for a stockmarket flotation in May which will be one of the biggest of the year, valuing the company at more than £2 billion. Punch is expected to embark on a round of deals once it is floated which will heighten the already frenetic pace of consolidation in the pub industry. Last week Enterprise Inns surpassed Punch as the country's biggest pub company when it bought 1,860 pubs (Laurel Pub Partners) from Morgan Grenfell Private Equity for £875m. Read more on Enterprise's purchase of Laurel Pub Partenerships on thePublican.com...
Mean Fiddler, the listed entertainment group, is to pay around £5m to buy Finlaw 279, a privately-owned company which owns three nightclubs including The Tunnel, the largest in Glasgow. Mean Fiddler is best known as the owner of London venues the Jazz Cafe and The Astoria.
The Business
Six Continents, the global hotel, pub and restaurant group formerly known as Bass, is studying proposals to return to shareholders surplus capital amounting to more than £1bn through a share buyback programme. The group has struggled to find suitable deals on which to spend some of the reputed £1.5bn war-chest that it has accumulated from the sale of its brewing interests, and the disposal of 1,000 pubs. A board decision is expected when the company announces interim figures in May.
The Sunday Times
Tax rises equivalent to an increase of 3p in the pound will be announced by Gordon Brown in this week's budget, although they will not start to bite until next year. The tax hikes of about £7bn will come through a variety of measures, but mainly concentrated on higher National Insurance contributions, which will be increased from April next year.
Gerry Robinson, the new chairman of drinks giant Allied Domecq, is to star in a remake of the Troubleshooter series in the role that made Sir John Harvey-Jones a household name in the 1990s. The original show had peak audiences of four million.
The Sunday Express
The sharewatch column says shares in the acquisitive nightclub operator Springwood Leisure look attractive at 142p. The price dropped 20 per cent amid concerns the company might need to raise more cash. The company's brands include Zanzibar. It is due to embark on a £20m spending spree.
The Observer
Channel 5 and the BBC are leading the pack to buy key sport media rights owned by ITV Digital, the debt-ridden pay-TV company teetering on the edge of liquidation. The BBC wants the rights to the Football League play-offs and the Worthington (League) Cup. Channel 5 wants to buy the Nationwide League package.
The Independent on Sunday
No industry-related news
