Sunday newspaper round-up: SAB Miller, BoE, US elections

The maker of Budweiser is this weekend scrambling to find enough support among SAB Miller shareholders to ensure it can buy the FTSE 100 brewer for £79bn. Anheuser-Busch InBev, which also owns Stella Artois, is attempting to reach the hundreds of investors on SAB’s register — including scores of minor shareholders in South Africa, where the company was founded — to persuade them to vote in favour of the deal. - The Sunday Times

The Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates for the first time since the financial crisis this week and lower its UK growth forecasts by the biggest margin on record, in response to the uncertainty caused by the EU referendum result. The Bank’s monetary policy committee will announce a decision on Thursday, when the latest inflation report and growth forecasts will be published. If interest rates are cut, it will be the first time they have changed since being set at 0.5% in March 2009. - Guardian on Sunday

More than two-thirds of economists surveyed by the FT said the contest between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton would act as a headwind to growth in the US, blunting large scale investments until businesses have a better view of the regulatory, tax and government spending climate. - Financial Times

Sainsbury’s will be shipping more tea to China as its expands an online trial with the website Tmall Global. The British supermarket is doubling the number of products it sells via the international shopping site of Alibaba – a China-based company similar to Amazon – to 100, including olive oil, tea bags, pasta and coffee. - Guardian on Sunday

Vodafone is considering a major investment in its own broadband network in the UK, in a move that would challenge BT and could impact a potential merger with Virgin Media owner Liberty Global. The company has been carrying out tests in recent weeks to explore whether it could use BT’s underground ducts and telegraph poles to lay its own ultra-fast fibre-optic cables into millions of homes and businesses. - The Sunday Telegraph

Britain's big banks are facing a £1.3bn hit to their profits if, as expected, the Bank of England cuts interest rates on Thursday. There are fears that the banks could attempt to contain the damage by not passing on the benefit of lower rates to borrowers – risking fury from customers and regulators. Very low interest rates squeeze bank profit margins, so there will be further losses if the 0.25 percentage point cut is passed on to customers. - Mail on Sunday

Shoppers have been returning to stores after the sudden collapse in consumer confidence in the aftermath of last month’s EU referendum. Figures collected by research group Springboard in thousands of shops across the country showed the number of shoppers dropped 5% during Brexit week, but in the four weeks to July 25 there was a total fall of just 1.1%. The drop is exactly in line with the decline seen in July last year and matches the long-running trend of lower shopper numbers – giving the strong impression that the Brexit effect is waning. - Mail on Sunday