PRESS DIGEST - British business - July 17

The Times

WETHERSPOON CELEBRATES CHEAP AND CHEERFUL EFFECT

JD Wetherspoon(JDW.L) is benefiting from the 'Aldi' effect as consumers trade down to cheaper alternatives. The pub operator reported a 0.4 per cent rise in comparable sales in the 11 weeks to July 13, taking the performance for the second half as a whole to flat, well ahead of the 3.1 per cent decline of the second quarter. The group attributed part of the rise to promotions and marketing, and noted that a recent voucher mailshot had generated bigger take-up than usual. Like-for-like sales for the first 50 weeks of the financial year fell by one per cent and overall sales were up 2.2 per cent helped by the opening of 23 pubs.

RUMOUR OF THE DAY

Shares in ITV(ITV.L) were nudged up another 0.7 pence to 41.2 pence on Wednesday on continuing rumours of bid talk which had Bertelsmann as one potential candidate. Analysts suspect that potential bidders will not be interested in the current market, however, gains may be due to a Lehman Brothers update on Tuesday which raised ITV from 'underweight' to 'equal weight'.

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