Business Diary: Brunswick to miss SAB windfall

Bad news for Brunswick, one of the City's all-powerful public relations agencies. With SAB Miller in the middle of a hostile takeover battle for Fosters, the agency should be rubbing its hands with glee at the thought of all the lucrative fees coming its way. Unfortunately, PR Week reports that Brunswick and SAB are about to have a parting of the ways. It's all terribly amicable apparently, but the timing could hardly be worse.

BarCap licks its wounds in private

Still no word from Barclays on what it thinks about the departure of star commodities trader Todd Edgar. Although the story has been around all week, the bank's Barclays Capital arm seems reluctant to go on the record about it. Could that be because people at the top are feeling just a little sensitive about his departure? After all, it is only a couple of years since Barclays lured the trader and his team from JP Morgan with a package thought to be worth $50m (£30m). JP Morgan was thoroughly sick about it at the time – a case of the biter bitten?

Peston's influence spreads at Beeb

Robert Peston isn't the only BBC reporter eager to make sure everyone knows when he's first with the news, it seems. The Beeb's sports editor David Bond took to the airwaves and the internet yesterday breathlessly breaking the news that Manchester United is about to sell a stake of the football club on the Singapore stock exchange. If that story sounds just a little bit familiar it's because, despite the usual "BBC learns" formulation, it was in every British newspaper on Wednesday (the news having been revealed on Tuesday by IFR, a specialist financial publication).

Lord Sugar takes a battering

He is not a happy man. As the Diary revealed earlier this week, Lord Sugar reckoned he had spotted a bargain courtesy of the latest stock market volatility, so last Friday he took the brave decision to pile into banking stocks. Brave but misguided as it now turns out. Hence yesterday's howl of pain: "My bank investments are going south." He's certainly right about that, though blaming his broker, not mentioned when he first invested, seems a bit harsh.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk