Business Dairy: Australia's hottest takeover battle

Hot news from Australia, where the adult entertainment sector is going through a consolidation phase. Still, the online retailer Adultshop wasn't expecting the takeover approach it received yesterday, and was taken by surprise with a $5.2m bid from a Melbourne chain of sex stores called Sexyland.

Cameron hasn't always had the best press

With David Cameron's conference speech widely feted in today's Conservative press, it's worth remembering what the pundits said about him when he became Tory leader – many hacks have less-than-fond memories of his time as head of PR at the broadcaster Carlton. For example, Ian King, former business editor of the Tory cheerleader in chief The Sun, described him as a "poisonous, slippery individual". The Daily Telegraph's Jeff Randall went a little further, writing that he wouldn't trust Mr Cameron "with my daughter's pocket money".

Halfords tells City folk to get on their bikes

Halfords, enjoying some decent results yesterday, didn't feel the need to schmooze the City too much. Rather than hiring a swanky venue to brief analysts and brokers on the numbers, it dragged them out to its store in less-than-glamorous Tottenham, north London. The retailer must be feeling confident.

An opportunity you can afford to miss

What with house prices creeping back up in the UK, many readers are doubtless mulling a return to the good old days of speculating on property. What could be better than a deal from a company called BluSky doing the viral email rounds? It invites you to invest in agricultural land in Ukraine. No risk there, then.

The school teaching lessons on exports

Good to see that some UK exports are thriving in these difficult times. Dulwich College has proudly begun construction of a school in South Korea, which will eventually be known as Dulwich College in Seoul. Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, was at the groundbreaking ceremony in order to wave the flag.

Number of the day: 7,000

Customers of the insurer Aegon whose pensions may have been overvalued due to an administrative error.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk