OWNERS 'NOT PUTTING SUPERQUINN UP FOR SALE' - Today's Irish Times front page says six potential bidders - including Asda and Sainsbury - are interested in talking about the takeover of the operating business of Superquinn.
The chief executive of Superquinn, Simon Burke, said that 'at no time' had the owners of the chain - Select Retail Holdings - put the company up for sale.
But Mr Burke said there had been several approaches,. He compared what was happening now to people knocking on the door and saying they would be prepared to pay you generously for your house, adding that most people would 'at least continue the conversation'.
Mr Burke said the management team was confident and excited about Superquinn's prospects, as it had been trading very well and its performance had recovered dramatically in the last couple of years.
He would not comment on the Irish Times report that a value of €250m to €300m was being put on the company.
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OUTLOOK FOR PUBLIC FINANCES WORSENS - When the cabinet meets later today there is likely to be little to smile about as ministers survey the gloomy landscape that is the public finances. Actual tax receipts are way down - €2.8 billion down - on what the Government had predicted at the last Budget.
If the Government still plans to spend all that was promised back then, it has to find an extra €4.5 billion to €5 billion, according to economists. That means borrowing and breaching EU rules, or cutting back on spending.
AIB Global Treasury economist John Beggs said the Exchequer figures for August made 'grim reading' and we were on course for a deficit of 4% of GDP this year, with the 2009 outlook worsening by the day. He said the Government had to think about containing the rise in the deficit in the next two years.
Mr Beggs said the public finances would deteriorate this year and next year, and it could take until 2010 or 2011 to get them back into order.
The economist said that unless taxes were to rise, there was no scope for growth in current spending, which would probably mean an embargo on recruitment in the public sector and some kind of pay pause.
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CURRENCIES - The euro is worth $1.4465 and 81.45p sterling.
