What the Sunday papers said
The Sunday Telegraph
South African Breweries has set a target of May 30 to reveal a $5bn deal to gain control of US brewer Miller and transform itself into the second biggest brewing business in the world, behind Anheuser Busch, maker of Budweiser.
Investors should call time on Greene King according to the Telegraph's sharewatch column. Full-year results are likely to be positive and the Morrells bid is good news but the company has benefited from the re-rating of consumer stocks. Shares have risen from 473.5p in 2000 to trade currently at 817p, and shareholders should take profits.
Elsewhere in the share-tips, Hotel group Hilton has recovered the ground lost after September 11. A trading update on Friday revealed profits ahead of expectations forthe first four months. The stock is a buy at 254p.
The Mail on Sunday
Following the abandoned Punch float, there will be no refinancing, no repaying of loan notes, and no real changes for the company, although it might buy something, according to the Mail's sources. The decision to pull its flotation was "a brave call" according to one source. The group is likely to float at a later date.
Leisure group Whitbread has revealed a shortfall in the asset value of its pension fund. The company, which owns David Lloyd and Costa Coffee, has an £84m deficit compared with its expected pension commitments - equal to seven per cent.
The Independent on Sunday
The decision to pull the Punch Taverns float has knocked the stuffing out of the market for UK initial public offerings (IPOs). The bullish optimism of a fortnight ago has almost disintegrated. The expected number of floats for this year has fallen from 18 to 20 at the start of May to 10 to 12, just two weeks later.
The Sunday Times
Ministry of Sound, the club-music empire, is thought to be eying a stockmarket flotation. Last year venture capitalist 3i took a 20 per cent stake in the business.
Karaoke is making a comeback - Singing Machine, a US company that makes the machines and sells them around the world has seen sales triple in its December quarter. Shares in the business have been driven up 510 per cent in the past year to $19 a share.
The Business
National governments are set to become the biggest high-rollers as they move to liberalise betting laws. Despite fears ofthe social consequences, state coffers will swell with cash from gaming. Britain has 118 casinos. Merrill Lynch predicts that will swell to 250 in two years.
The Observer
Merrill Lynch, the US investment bank that was chief adviser to Punch, and that would have banked millions from a successful float, is to axe another 2,000 jobs. Staff numbers have fallen nearly 25 per cent in the past two years.
