'Enterprise Inns tipped to scrap dividend'

Enterprise Inns: The tenanted pub company is tipped to scrap its dividend tomorrow as it unveils a 20 per cent dip in half-year pre-tax profits and an eight per cent fall in net income per pub.The group is preserving cash ahead of a scheduled debt refinancing in 2011- The Times​

Luminar: Britain's biggest nightclub operator is on Thursday expected to report a sharp fall in full-year pre-tax profits after a 4.7 per cent drop in like-for-like sales, a decline in the gross margin and higher utility and interest costs. Numis has pencilled in a 37 per cent fall in profits to £20 million, although it said it believed Luminar would emerge as "a survivor" from the recession - The Times​

American drinkers cutting back on spirits and wine during the recession and emptier duty-free stores at airports have led to sales slumping at drinks giant Diageo. Underlying sales for the Guinness, Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker owner fell 7 per cent in the first three months of 2009, the company said. Sales for the nine months to March 31, 2009, were flat. Chief executive Paul Walsh said the drop was driven by one million fewer cases of wine and spirits being stocked by its US distributors than at the end of 2008 - The Daily Express​

Doctors say heavy boozing causes one in four cases of dementia. And women are more at risk.Hitting the bottle has long been known to kill brain cells, but scientists now say the problem is far worse than they thought. Dr Jane Marshall, who co-wrote the report in the journal Alcohol And Alcoholism said: "People think dementia is something that happens to people over 65."- The Daily Star​

At present, nearly 20% of Scotland's pubs and bars have not yet registered for new liquor licences which come into effect in 16 weeks' time. As bar and pub owners complain that too much of the blame for the nation's binge-drinking culture has been laid at their saloon doors, stringent new licensing measures, which come into force on September 1, have placed excessive financial burdens on bar owners - The Sunday Herald.​

A 16-year-old boy has been shot dead at a pub in Greater Manchester. Police were called to the Robin Hood in Barton Road in Stretford, late on Sunday night, after reports of shots being fired. A boy was taken to Trafford General Hospital with gunshot wounds to the head. He died a short time later, police said - BBC​