The Independent on Sunday
THE Independent goes big on the troubles of the pub and bar industry. In the run-up to what is traditionally the busiest period for the sector, city-centre outlets are having a tough time.
Some analysts say we could soon start seeing boarded up drinking houses on the high street.
Because of the economic climate, people are drinking less alcohol in pubs and bars. The companies that own these outlets are nursing a hangover from exuberant expansion in the good times.
The Observer
SIX CONTINENTS is understood to have received tentative offers close to £3bn for its pubs from at least three bidders: CVC and Candover, both venture capital groups, and Spirit, the managed house group headed by Karen Jones.
Shareholders are thought to favour a break-up but analysts say the company wants at least £4bn.
CADBURY SCHWEPPES, the confectionary and soft drinks giant, has tabled a $4.3bn (£2.7bn) offer for the Adams chewing gum and mint business put up for sale by US parent company Pfizer.
The Sunday Telegraph
LUMINAR'S leading position in the late-night sector, including its Jumpin Jaks and Chicago Rock Cafe venues, will make it one of the survivors in the troubled licensed retail sector.
The Sunday Times
SINCE Sir Brian Stewart took the helm at Scottish & Newcastle 11 years ago, he has transformed the company from an unloved UK brewer to a leading European business.
On the eve of his handing over his executive responsibilities, the S&N chairman gives a wide-ranging interview with the Times. It emerges that he expects to step down sometime in the new year.
He is credited with two "brilliant" pieces of business - the acquisitions of Chef & Brewer and of Courage. But he has no delusions about S&N being somehow "his" company.
"It's like an oil tanker," he says. "With a 250-year history."
INTERPUB, operator of Belushi's and St Christopher Inns, the bar and beds combination, has been placed in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 index. The list measures Britain's 100 fastest growing unquoted companies.
THE restaurateur Marco Pierre White has raised £5m for his most ambitious restaurant project, which involves buying the lease of the 10,000 sq ft Suntory restaurant in London's St James's.
The Mail on Sunday
Pub entrepreneur Hugh Osmond has emerged as an unlikely ally of the Dubai-based Landmark Group, which has 160 stores in the Middle East and is thought to be bidding for House of Fraser and Allders.
The Business
INVESTORS in S&N were starting to get impatient last week as the group once again extended its self-imposed deadline to release value from its pub estate.
The group is planning to sell about 1,000 pubs in a deal that will see raise up to £1bn but retain management controlof the sold outlets.
WHITBREAD, the UK leisure group, has put its Swallow Hotels chain back on the market, with an estimated price tag of about £65m.
SHAREHOLDERS in Pizza Express are calling for the resignation of chairman and chief executive David Page, claiming insufficient action has been taken to restore shareholder value since the company's summer profits warning.