What the Sunday papers said
The Business
BRITVIC, the UK soft drinks manufacturer, is to be put back up for sale next year, once its largest shareholder, Six Continents, has demerged its pubs from its hotels business.
The drinks business, thought to be worth around £500m, is jointly owned by Six Continents, Allied Domecq, Whitbreadand Pepsi Co.
EVER since Brazil put England out of the World Cup four months ago, the UK pubs industry has been complaining that business is getting flatter, says The Business.
Though there is no sign of a slump yet, British drinkers are downing less than ever and the industry is beginning to feel the pinch.
Following the troubles of SFI and Old Monk, one pub group chief executives sais he didnot believe the two would be the only companies in trouble this winter.
ALLIED DOMECQ will announce tomorrow results likely to be weaker than its two main peers, Diageo and Pernod Ricard, a consequence of the group's failure to get involved in the Seagram auction last year.
MCDONALD'S is planning to cut the rate of new hamburger restaurants that it opens by more than half as earnings growth slows.
LONDON hotel revenues showed no sign of recovery in September, lagging behind most European cities and up only marginally on last year, according to accountant Deloitte & Touche.
The Sunday Express
SHARES in Luminar, the nightclub group that has been touted as a bidder for the debt-laden pub group SFI, are worth a look. Currently priced at 677.5p, it is trading on about 10 times earnings.
The group is looking for 15 per cent annual earnings growth over the next three years and has cemented its lead in the entertainment bar market.
PATRICIA HEWITT is to chair the paper's search for Britain's greatest businessperson. Over the next two weeks the judges will rank their top 100 businessmen and women. The results will be announced on Sunday November 10.
BRITISH firms have prompted fears of a recession by issuing a staggering 89 profits warnings over the past three months, a 33 per cent rise on the last quarter.
UK TAXPAYERS are shelling out nearly £80m a year through the European Union to subsidise tobacco growers in southern Europe.
The Mail on Sunday
BULMERS is just one company that has been hit by the curse of Arthur Andersen. A survey of 133 British firms that were Andersen clients, before the accountant's fall from grace, shows their shares have consistently underperformed the rest of the stock market this year. Bulmers has lost 78 per cent of its market value.
THE MAIL'S diary column notes that Laurel Pub Company recently organised a media trip to some of its London pubs (a pub crawl).
Then Laurel cancelled saying the management was having difficulty making it along: "A pub company that can't oganise a pub crawl? Surely this ranks alongside not being able to organise an alcoholic social event in a brewery..."
THE threatened national fire strike was dramatically suspended by leaders of the Fire Brigades Union over the weekend. But they warned that if no progress was made, a further 36 days of strikes planned from November 6would go ahead.
The Sunday Times
FOUR London mountaineers who took more than 1,000lb of dehydrated food on an expedition to Peru arrived at their destination to find French, Swiss, Chinese and Indian restuarants.
THE bubble of consumer confidence that has been propping up the economy could be about to burst, according to new statistics from Ernst & Young, the accountancy firm.
The Independent on Sunday
ALLIED DOMECQ reports full-year results on Tuesday, giving the market another chance to gauge the health of the global drinks industry.
The group has been busy with big wine acquisitions and the integration of Malibu, and both of these should give the numbers a warm glow.
The big issue will be how Allied can explain its wine strategy. Argentina is a running problem and the US is oversupplied, leaving plenty of work still to do.
The Sunday Telegraph
No industry-related news
The Observer
No industry-related news
