Good afternoon. The war of words between SABMiller and its hopeful suitor Anheuser-Busch InBev is hotting up.
Following AB InBev's third bid for its rival yesterday, priced at £42.15 per share, SABMiller made it clear that it would not accept the deal.
ABI has responded to the rejection this morning and said it is "surprised" that SAB continues to say that the proposal "still very substantially undervalues" the company.
ABI says that argument "lacks credibility" for two reasons:
The £42.15 offer is roughly a 44 per cent premium to the SAB shares closing price on September 14th (the day before the bid was revealed).
Altria, the largest shareholder in SAB with a 27 per cent stake, has publicly supported the latest proposal from ABI.
Carlos Brito, chief executive of ABI, has urged the other shareholders to voice their support for the deal: “Notwithstanding our good faith efforts, the Board of SABMiller has refused to meaningfully engage with us. Our proposal creates significant value for everybody.
“How long will it be before shareholders see a value of over £42 in the absence of an offer from AB InBev? If shareholders agree that we should be in proper discussions, they should voice their views and should not allow the board of SABMiller to frustrate this process and let this opportunity slip away.”
I don’t imagine they’ll be sitting down to enjoy a nice cold beer together any time soon. There’s more on this on the Business Now live blog.
You won't be surprised to hear that the Bank of England has held interest rates at 0.5 per cent for the gazillionth month in a row. More interesting is the minutes from the meeting, which now get released at the same time as the decision.
The split in the vote remains 8-1, with Ian McCafferty being the only hawk voting for a 25 basis point rate raise.
Going by the the language used in the minutes, it would appear that most MPC members see a relatively soft outlook for inflation (which is currently at zero), suggesting they are in no rush to raise rates.
The central bank said that cost pressures in Britain's labour market were rising too slowly for inflation to return to its 2 per cent target, especially given the past strength of sterling, and that inflation would stay below 1 per cent 2016.
As and when rates do rise, the members agreed that the “likely persistence of headwinds restraining economic growth”, would mean the Bank will raise “more gradually and to a lower level” than in previous cycles. Although it does note that will be an “expectation not a promise”.
We’ll have the full story shortly at www.thetimes.co.uk/business.
Finally, Greece's jobless rate is at its lowest level in more than three years. While it remained unchanged in July, that was from a downwardly revised 25 per cent in the previous month, according to the country's statistics agency Elstat.
The reading in July, based on seasonally adjusted data, was the lowest since June 2012 when unemployment stood at 24.9 per cent. The jobless rate hit a record high of 27.9 per cent in September 2013.
Unemployment has come down from record highs as the economy stabilised last year after a severe slump, but it remains more than double the euro zone's July average of 11 per cent.
Have a great afternoon.
Rebecca Clancy
Breaking News Editor, Business
The Times
rebecca.clancy@thetimes.co.uk
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