. The brewer is taking a £257million hit on selling its seven breweries to a Russian manufacturer. It comes a month after rival brewer Carlsberg and French food firm Danone had factories in Russia seized by Vladimir Putin. A tough time SHARES in Watches of Switzerland slumped by almost a quarter yesterday after Rolex announced it was buying rival retailer Bucherer. But the firm — the UK's biggest seller of Rolexes — claimed the deal was more to do with Bucherer's founder's lack of a succession plan tha){kind=link}
OCTOPUS Energy is in talks to get its tentacles on Shell’s household energy business months after taking on 1.5million Bulb customers.
Oil giant Shell said earlier this year it was considering pulling out of the retail market and began the sale process in June.
Octopus is now front-runner to buy it, according to Sky News, with experts putting the price in the region of £300million.
However, the company set up by Greg Jackson still faces competition from rival firms, including OVO and British Gas.
If Octopus is successful in buying the business, it would grow to 6.5million customers – just short of British Gas’s 7.52million household customers.