S&N shares lifted by break-up talk

Shares in Scottish & Newcastle surged today after a report said rival firms Diageo and SABMiller had been considering a £9bn (€13.3bn) takeover.

The deal would have seen Diageo acquire S&N’s UK beer business, which includes Foster’s, John Smith’s and Strongbow, while SAB would have taken control of its international assets, such as Indian brewer United Breweries.

The plan, which was detailed in today’s Financial Times, appears to have been disrupted by a rise in S&N’s share price over the past few weeks.

Takeover speculation caused the stock to go above 600p earlier this month, before later falling back. It was up 4% at 593.5p today.