Tesco could be called before the Commons inquiry into workplace pensions amid claims that the hole in its pension fund could be up to £6.5bn. Exane BNP Paribas suggested that Tesco’s pension deficit may have grown by as much as £3.3bn since the company’s last stated numbers because of low interest rates and bond yields (The Times £). The potential doubling of Tesco’s pension deficit threatens to delay the resurrection of dividend payments by Britain’s biggest retailer. (The Telegraph)

Opposition to the £79bn takeover of SABMiller has grown after another investor in the FTSE 100 brewer said it would stage a protest vote against the deal, raising the stakes ahead of a crunch shareholder meeting this week. In a sign it may not go smoothly for the brewer, Ash Park Capital is understood to have written to other SAB investors last month to outline its dissatisfaction with the takeover (The Telegraph).

Activist investors that forced a higher bid for SAB Miller will be barred from voting on the £79bn takeover deal at a crucial shareholder meeting this week. Anheuser-Busch InBev increased its offer in July amid pressure from activists. However, many of the funds, which hold a total of about 20% of the FTSE 100 brewer’s shares, have failed to convert their holdings from options and derivatives into shares with voting rights. (The Times £)

The industry-backed lifeboat for troubled pension schemes has parachuted its own trustees into Bernard Matthews ahead of the sale of the struggling turkey producer. The Pension Protection Fund (PPF), which is supported by a levy on final salary schemes, has installed 2020 Trustees, one of five firms on its advisory panel, to the Bernard Matthews fund. (The Times £)

Britain’s 145,000 pubs, clubs, hotels and restaurants sold less beer than supermarkets and off-licences last year – for the first time since industry records began. Bulk retail price deals plus changing habits and tastes among drinkers blamed as off-sales total 51% in 2015. (The Guardian)

The FT looks at how supermarkets are trying to re-invest their big box stores, noting “After a store-building land grab, chains need to squeeze more revenue from huge outlets”. (The Financial Times £).

The Mail has an interview with Co-op boss Richard Pennycook, who joined the group at the height of its crisis and explains why he wanted his £440,000 pay cut. (The Daily Mail)

Pennycook has issued a plea to Theresa May’s Government to make a ‘humane’ decision over the future of European workers in the UK. (The Daily Mail)

The Co-operative Group has reduced the value of its holding in its stricken bank by a further £45 million in a move that dragged down overall profits. The writedown comes after a similar cut in valuation in the Co-op’s 20 per cent holding in the bank in April. It believes that the stake is now worth £140m, against about £220m at the start of the year. (The Times £)

BHS is to relaunch in the UK this week as an online retailer just one month after the last of its high street shops shut their doors for the final time. The online shop is being launched by the brand’s new owner, the Qatar-based Al Mana Group, with a plan to offer a full range of home furnishing and fashions in time for the Christmas season. (The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Guardian)

Discussions that will create the world’s second-biggest Coca-Cola bottler with combined sales of $10bn have reached a critical phase amid growing market scrutiny on whether the two Japanese beverage groups can strike a deal by the year-end. (The Financial Times £)

The Telegraph looks at a “vintage era for English vineyards”. (The Telegraph)

A flurry of new technologies is attempting to transform how consumers can pay for goods. So far, however, their efforts are failing to inspire people to adopt the new methods. (The Financial Times £)

The convicted fraudster who brokered Sir Philip Green’s sale of BHS took as much as £4m from investors in a suspected Ponzi scheme. Paul Sutton, who introduced serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell to the department store deal with Green, ran a company called B52 Investments between 2010 and 2014 with his girlfriend, Nicola Tarrant. (The Times £)

Bosses of Britain’s biggest businesses say they are feeling confident, three months on from the EU referendum. A survey of 100 chief executives by KPMG found most were optimistic about the growth of the UK and global economy, as well as their own firm. (The Daily Mail)

Malcolm Walker, the boss of the Iceland stores group, has escalated his company’s row with the nation of Iceland over the use of the name suggesting: ‘We’ve got more of a claim than they have.’ (The Daily Mail)

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