A round-up of the weekend's news affecting the hospitality industry...
Wetherspoon boss to take a six-month holiday
Tim Martin, boss of pub group JD Wetherspoon, shocked the City on Friday night by announcing he was taking an immediate six-month sabbatical. A spokesman said Martin was "100% coming back", but would switch off his mobile phone and not expect anyone from the company to contact him while he was away. – Daily Telegraph, 27 September
SFI managing director made redundant
SFI Group, the pub group delisted from the Stock Exchange after revelations of a £20m accounting black hole, is to part company with managing director Andrew Latham, who recently stepped aside as chief executive following the appointment of Stuart Lawson as executive chairman. Latham will leave SFI next week. – The Times, 27 September
Scottish budget chain targets England
Scottish hotels boss David Orr is planning to spend £100m expanding his City Inn chain into London and the north of England. The company last week opened its first hotel in the English capital, a 460-bedroom property near the Houses of Parliament. Orr wants to build a second central London hotel of a similar size and has also received planning consent for a hotel in Manchester. – Scotland on Sunday, 28 September
QMH to pull out of Europe
Queens Moat Houses is in advanced negotiations with its banks that are likely to see them agree to a standstill on interest payments and to waive bank covenants. Stuart Metcalfe, who will this week succeed Andrew Coppel as chief executive, is also expected to put the group’s assets in the Netherlands and Germany up for sale. – Sunday Times, 28 September
Status quo for Scottish area tourist boards
The Scottish Executive ministerial group on tourism is set to ignore industry calls to streamline the Area Tourist Board network. The ministerial group will come out on Wednesday with a decision to leave the 13-strong network unchanged, according to industry sources. – Sunday Herald, 28 September
Only two bidders left for S&N pub estate
Just two final bids for Scottish & Newcastle's 1,450-strong pub estate are expected by Tuesday's deadline after a third consortium broke up this weekend. Venture capital firm Cinven has dropped out of the running, leaving former partner CVC to team up with pubs group Spirit, in which it owns a stake. They will go head to head with Laurel, which has backing from Japanese bank Nomura. – Scotland on Sunday, 28 September
Last-minute entry in bidding for S&N pub estate
Hospitality entrepreneur Trevor Hemmings is this weekend preparing to burst back into the biggest auction of the year – the contest for the £2.4b Scottish & Newcastle pub estate. Hemmings failed to make the shortlist of three bidders but, after the collapse of a consortium led by Cinven and CVC last week, he is pressing the board to let him back into the auction. Hemmings is proposing to make a fresh offer, which will be tabled by Tuesday, when final bids have to be submitted. – Sunday Times, 28 September