What the weekend papers say

A round-up of the weekend's news affecting the hospitality industry...

Compass in US procurement probe
Compass is embroiled in a US federal and United Nations investigation into corrupt buying practices at the UN, it emerged on Saturday. A UN procurement officer with whom Compass dealt has been convicted of fraud, but Compass denies any wrongdoing. – Sunday Telegraph, 2 October

Greene King offer for Belhaven unconditional
Greene King, the Suffolk brewer, declared its £254m offer for Belhaven, its Scottish rival, unconditional after reaching an acceptance level of 85.6%. – The Times, 1 October

Dublin pub fined for flouting smoking ban
A smoking room created in a pub following the smoking ban in Irish pubs did not comply with the law, Dublin District Court heard yesterday. Parkgate Taverns Ltd pleaded guilty to the breach after an inspector found a room fitted out for smoking at the back of the Nancy Hands in Dublin. The company was fined €500 and ordered to pay €1,050 costs. – Irish Independent, 1 October

Jurys hotels to make way for housing
Jurys Doyle group shareholders approved by a landslide at Tuesday's EGM the sale of two of its hotels to developer Sean Dunne for €260m. The move paves the way for Dunne to tear down the Jurys Ballsbridge hotel and the adjoining Towers Hotel and replace them with a high-rise luxury apartment complex. About 400 full-time equivalent jobs will be lost as a result of the closure of the two hotels. – Irish Independent, 1 October

Dinner lady training will not be practical
Governors of schools that continue to serve junk food to children after it has been banned could be prosecuted and receive a criminal record, Education Secretary Ruth Kelly suggested on Saturday. It also emerged that a new qualification for dinner ladies announced by Kelly to bolster "crucial skills" does not involve any cooking or work in the kitchen. The course will take only six hours to complete and has no practical content. – Sunday Telegraph, 2 October

Ireland losing “roots” tourists to the internet
The number of overseas visitors coming to Ireland in search of their roots is in serious decline and has halved in the past five years alone. Most visitors now have no blood link to Ireland, according to research by Failte Ireland. Those with an Irish connection are increasingly finding their great-grandparents through the internet rather than travelling to Kerry or Galway in search of old gravestones or parish records. – Sunday Times (Irish edition), 2 October

McDonald’s urged to sell off company sites
A New York hedge fund is lobbying McDonald's to spin off a quarter of its 30,000 worldwide outlets in a bid to boost profitability. The little-known but powerful Pershing Square Capital revealed last month that it had built up a stake of almost 5% in McDonald's. Now Pershing is thought to want McDonald's to undergo a wide-ranging restructuring, by selling a majority stake in the restaurants it owns and by creating a separate, publicly traded company. – Independent on Sunday, 2 October

German bank builds stake in Jurys Doyle
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has emerged as a key shareholder in Jurys Doyle ahead of an expected offer for the hotel group from the Doyle family. The German bank holds an 8.3% stake following a spate of buying last week. Dresdner purchased a 5% stake in the firm on Thursday. The bank is not linked to any potential bidder for the company. The Dresdner stake would be sufficient to take the Doyle family consortium clear of the 50% level if secured by them. – Sunday Times (Irish edition), 2 October

Scottish pubs fight to keep drinks promotions
Pub industry representatives in Scotland are to report the Scottish Executive to the Office of Fair Trading in a bid to retain control of drinks promotions. The Scottish Beer and Pub Association, which represents 1,500 of the nation's 5,200 pubs, claims Scottish Executive plans to make certain drinks promotions illegal are "so subjective as to be unworkable". – Scotland on Sunday, 2 October

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