What the Sunday papers said

The Sunday Express

• Richard North, Six Continents' finance director, looks set to be forced out of the pubs and hotels group by its largest shareholders - that was the price they demanded for backing the board's demerger plan last week.

Mr North has been lined up as the boss of the new InterContinental hotels split after the split. One institution told the Sunday Express: "North has failed miserably and the sooner the company gets a new CEO the better. He proved how poor he is at the EGM, where he gave a totally uninspiring, appalling performance." Click here for more on thePublican.com.

The Mail on Sunday​

• Bacardi is dumping the Tom Cat used in adverts to promote its Breezer pre-mixed drink. The disco-dancing feline is failing to revive flagging sales of the once trendy drink.
  
• Hugh Osmond has sold all his shares in pubs and hotels group Six Continents after the failure of his £5.6bn hostile bid last week. The sale generated a £1.5m profit but the windfall will go to charity following a Takeover Panel ruling.

Sharewatch: Whitbread represents a stock market safe haven for investors at the moment. The company has sold off brewing and pub assets, and now runs gyms, budget hotels and pub-restaurants.

The restructuring is starting to pay off. In addition to operating in strong growth sectors, the company is now said to be the subject of takeover attention after the Six Continents saga.

Job losses in the City could soar to record numbers this year after sharp falls in the stock market last week. About 20,000 jobs have been lost since 2000 and forecasters say a further 15,000 could go this year.

The Sunday Times​

• Sharewatch: Despite the defeat of Hugh Osmond, Six Continents still has "a few hurdles to jump" before a successful demerger. A number of private equity buyers are eying the group.

Investors can either look forward to an auction process or the significant cash returns that current management will need to guarantee to remain independent.

The Sunday Times business section features Lawrence Malinson, owner of James White drinks, best known for Big Tom, a spicy tomato juice used to make a Bloody Mary.

White bought the remnants of a tiny insolvent cider maker, based in Suffolk, in 1989. Trading on the brink of insolvency for a number of years, Malinson decided to develop a tomato juice mixer, "it was so blindingly obvious", he says. Last year the group made £350,000 on sales of £2m.

"We now have the distribution but we don't have the money to blow on marketing so I am going to have to do it by stealth and cunning," he says. "It is an exciting time and I really feel we are going to get there."

The Observer​

• Big Food Group, parent group of Booker, is demanding £12m from the government of the tiny, poverty-stricken, South American country of Guyana. The money is compensation for a sugar business that Guyana nationalised in 1975.

The cash-strapped country, which is so poor that the international financial community has written off 90 per cent of its debts, has already paid back £6m of what was a £13m debt. But it defaulted on repayment in 1989 following the Latin American currency crisis. Now interest has swelled the debt to £12m.

The group's turnover, at £5.2bn, dwarfs Guyana's GDP, which stands at £2.15bn. Its government's entire income is just £120m. The nationalised Guyanese sugar business was originally owned by Booker - one of the biggest food wholesalers to the UK pub industry.

Business editor Frank Kane says the clock is ticking for Six Continents. 6C's advisers should be congratulated for defeating Osmond - a result few would have predicted - but now the spotlight is back on the management and they must prove that shareholders did the right thing.

The Independent on Sunday​

• BT and BSkyB are under investigation for alleged anti-competitive behaviour over a joint internet and satellite television marketing push. Regulator Oftel is probing a joint package that offers subscribers money off both phone bills and Sky TV.

The Sunday Telegraph​

• House prices, salaries and economic productivity in Britain will be hit by sluggish growth in the next 10 years in sharp contrast to the previous decade, according to a leading City economics think-tank.

Under "Business lines" - the Telegraph's business quotes of the week - Hugh Osmond, who failed in his hostile bid for Six Continents, told shareholders: "Leopards do not change their spots, management does not change its ways and this demerger does not change the management."

After seeing off Osmond, 6C finance director Richard North said: "The shareholders voted for a demerger. I don't feel triumphant. Champagne? I'll probably have a scotch."

The Business​

• The number of shoppers visiting Britain's retailers fell dramatically during the first week of March, with London hardest hit as the capital's transport problems added to unease about the prospect of war.

Thistle Hotels' major shareholder, BIL International, will this week claim the group's assets are overvalued and cast doubts on plans to sell leading London hotels. Thistle aims to sell its three most valuable sites for £500m to thwart BIL's £554m takeover bid.