'Brewer takeover to create world's largest beer company'

The world's largest beer company is to be created after shareholders of US brewing giant Anheuser-Busch approved a takeover by Belgian rival InBev. The new global company will have annual net sales of about $36bn (£24bn), offering consumers 300 brands of lager. They will include Anheuser's Budweiser and Bud Light, and InBev's Stella Artois and Beck's. InBev says it expects the $52bn (£34.7bn) deal to be complete by the end of the year - Sky News​

Plans to impose minimum prices on alcohol in Scotland received a boost yesterday after a study found higher taxes led to a reduction in drink-related deaths. Researchers reviewed the impact of two tax increases on alcohol in Alaska on the number of deaths from alcohol-related diseases including liver disease, oral cancers and alcohol poisoning. They found that the first tax rise was immediately followed by a 29 per cent reduction in alcohol-related deaths - 23 deaths a year. The second tax rise was followed by a further 11 per cent drop in deaths - The Scotsman​

SABMiller, the global brewer behind Grolsch and Peroni Nastro Azzurro, will cut its capital expenditure by about $500 million (£342 million) next year as it responds to the impact of the consumer spending downturn on many of its biggest markets. The group said that although it would "continue to invest selectively to support future growth", it was cutting its $2 billion investment programme to mitigate rising input costs and weakening consumer demand - The Times​

Pub group Enterprise Inns yesterday recovered much of its recent fall after positive comments from analysts at Dresdner Kleinwort. Enterprise, which dropped more than 20 per cent on Wednesday on worries about debt and falling consumer demand, ended 8.75p higher at 93.25p - a 10.3 per cent increase - as Dresdner issued a buy note with a 320p price target ahead of full-year results next week - The Guardian​

Nearly half of motorists say they know someone who drinks and drives but are unlikely to inform the police unless they consider them to be considerably over the legal limit, a survey by the AA has found. The poll found that two-thirds of respondents said they would notify police if a driver they knew had consumed a large amount of alcohol which would make them "far in excess" of the limit - The Herald​

Knife-wielding robbers threatened a pub landlord in Tameside. Four men walked into the Royal Oak pub, on Hurst Cross, Ashton-under-Lyne via a fire escape door at about 1.15am on Thursday. They then forced open the door to the living quarters above the pub and confronted the bar manager and staff. One of the robbers held a knife to the landlord's throat and demanded cash. The offenders then stole a quantity of cash and left - Lancashire Evening News​

A former pub has been sold to be transformed into a church. Regulars are to hold a farewell party to the Carinish Inn on North Uist on the Western Isles at the weekend, before work starts on its conversion - BBC News ​