What the Sunday papers said

Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) has complained to the Competition Commission about supermarkets selling cheap alcohol in order to attract shoppers. S&N is the first FTSE100 company to hit out at the UK's largest supermarket chains while they are being investigated by the Commission to see whether they abuse their dominance of the food retailing sector. Citing its Fosters lager, S&N claims that the equivalent per unit of alcohol price in a pub is £1.02, while in a supermarket that figure slumps to just 30p. - Sunday Telegraph​

Britain's biggest supermarkets have been accused of encouraging irresponsible drinking by the country's leading beer supplier to the retail chains. S&N claims in a three-page submission to the Competition Commission that supermarkets sell beer and other alcoholic drinks at low cost - even below cost - in order to attract footfall into stores. "We strongly believe [this practice] is not consistent with the promotion of responsible drinking," S&N said in its submission. - Sunday Times​

One in 20 pubs could close because of next year's smoking ban, a report published last week claims. The Market & Business Development report on the UK pub sector predicts pub numbers across the country will fall six per cent - 3,300 - by 2011. However a spokesman for the British Beer & Pub Association said the ban would not result in problems for all pubs. - Sunday Express​

Whitbread, which recently sold more than 200 of its pubs to Mitchells & Butlers for nearly £500m, is in talks to sell its 50 per cent stake in Pizza Hut for £100m. It is believed to be discussing a possible sale to its joint venture partner in Pizza Hut, American fast-food group Yum Brands. - Sunday Times​

Pernod Ricard, which has recently whittled down the €10bn it borrowed to buy Allied Domecq last year to €6bn, may be on the acquisition trail once again. The group's senior management was refusing to discuss whether it was in takeover discussions with Mexican tequila company Casa Herradura, although Herradura said it had held talks with the French drinks giant. Buying Herradura would propel Pernod Ricard into the top league of tequila brand owners, after Diageo, which owns José Cuervo, and Sauza, which belongs to Fortune Brands of the US. - The Business​

A new report has warned that by the end of this century four fifths of the best wine growing areas in California will no longer be able to grow their premium grapes due to global warming. Currently suffering a heatwave that has killed more than 120 people, by 2099 average daily summer temperatures are expected to pass 35 centigrade, a situation that the report's authors, scientists at a university in Indiana, suggest will be the result of global warming. - The Observer​