Pub companies have threatened to sue the Government in European courts if it presses ahead with plans to reform the industry. They have warned that plans to force them to loosen their control over pub tenants – known as the beer tie – will destroy jobs and lead to more pub closures.
Ted Tuppen, chief executive of Britain’s biggest pub landlord, Enterprise Inns, said the proposals in a consultation document from the Department for Business ‘would be subject to legal challenge’ unless the Government backed down from its current stance.
Bondholders in the Co-operative Bank face an anxious wait over the next four weeks as the Prudential Regulation Authority pores over the mutual lender’s books and assesses the size of its capital shortfall. Analysts say that bondholders could pay a heavy price if the authorities decide to make them part of a rescue of the bank if the Co-op fails to resolve its problems. Co-op yesterday confirmed the report that it has slammed the brakes on lending to new small business customers.
The husband and wife behind Lush Cosmetics have shared in a £5.8m dividend after sales and profits bounced. Mark and Mo Constantine, who own more than 60% of the company, took the windfall following a 20% rise in sales to £326m in the year to last July. Accounts reveal that Lush opened 144 shops and now has more than 800 in America, Europe and the Far East, although it closed 50 outlets during the year. Among them were 15 loss-making sites in Macy’s, the American department store.
China’s richest man, about a deal which would see the British bags sold in one of the world’s fastest-growing retail markets. Julie Deane, who founded Cambridge Satchel Company on her kitchen table four years ago, met the chief executive of drinks and clothing giant, Wahaha, this month to discuss supplying the Chinese company as it embarks on a major retail expansion. Mr Zong suggested the British company could become “one of the best-selling Western brands in China”, Ms Deane said.