THE DAILY BRIEFING

LIGHTING UP A US cigarette giant has formed a committee to evaluate its proposed takeover by British American Tobacco.

Reynolds has appointed a number of independent directors to help evaluate the proposal, including banking heavyweight Goldman Sachs to serve as financial advisor.

BAT offered to buy Reynolds for £38bn earlier this month, which would create the world’s biggest listed tobacco company.

FINE FEARS South West Water is facing a potential £1.7m fine from Britain’s water regulator over ‘serious wastewater pollution incidents’.

Ofwat said that the company allowed sewage to spill into the sea on seven occasions between April 2015 and March 2016.

It means South West Water failed its own targets to eliminate all wastewater pollution incidents.

BOOZE BONANZA The owner of Bargain Booze and Wine Rack has seen half-year sales almost triple to £783m from £252m after it bought wine wholesaler Bibendum in May.

AIM-listed Conviviality said it is making strong progress with the integration of Matthew Clark and Bibendum ahead of schedule.

The shares increased 4.9pc, or 10p to 215p.

BITTER PILL US drug giant Pfizer saw its third-quarter profit plunge 38pc to £1.1bn as higher spending and acquisition-related charges more than offset higher sales.

Pfizer also lowered the top end of its 2016 profit forecast and said it was scrapping development of an experimental cholesterol drug, partly due to reduced sales expectations.

SALES DOUBLE Drug company Shire, which specialises in treatments for rare diseases, has seen sales double after buying rival Baxalta for £26bn.

Revenues in the third quarter were up 110pc to £2.7bn. Excluding Baxalta, sales still rose 12pc to £1.4bn. But shares fell 2.6pc, or 122.5p to 4527.5p.

WEAKER PROFITS Weir Group warned profits would be lower than expected due to a weakness in the engineering firm’s oil and gas markets in the Middle East.

It said output in the third quarter had fallen 7pc compared with last year, driven by the oil and gas downturn and fewer equipment orders in its minerals division. Shares fell 2.4pc, or 40p to 1660p.

JOB LOSSES Media and information group Thomson Reuters is to cut 2,000 jobs from its 155 locations in 39 countries.

The firm, which competes against arch rival Bloomberg to deliver financial information, employs 50,000 staff but declined to say how many jobs would go in the UK.