Whitbread, the owner of Costa Coffee, is set to suffer a slowdown in revenue growth at its Premier Inn budget hotels this year, despite a leap in profit this week.

There's just no escaping the takeover spotlight for Aegis. The Square Mile was once again talking up the bid potential of the advertising group yesterday as it continued its storming run amid hopes that the recent break-up of two of its rivals means it could find itself an admirer.

Shareholders in the world's biggest hotel group are hoping for news this week that could prompt a $250m (£159m) windfall.

The cheese-maker Dairy Crest's like-for-like sales rose 2 per cent in the first three quarters of the year, despite a "challenging business environment". But the company warned that profits at its dairies business are being hit by the higher costs of buying milk and lower bulk cream values, which fell by 15.2 per cent last month to £1,230 a tonne.

There was a rather pale look to Shire last night as the drugs maker weakened after one of its major rivals took a big step towards recovery. For a number of years now, Shire has been benefiting from serious supply issues suffered by Genzyne, but yesterday the biotech firm appeared to turn a corner.

The Independent on Sunday: Business leaders expect economy to worsen

Fears of trouble brewing Down Under, as well as disappointing trial results from one of its drugs, left GlaxoSmithKline on its sickbed last night. Britain's largest drugs maker was driven back 16p to 1,424p amid warnings from the City over evidence of a slowdown in Australia.

Yesterday's dramatic rally may have prompted the re-emergence of some familiar bid stories in the insurance sector, but investors in Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) were told to wave goodbye to their hopes of a takeover. The insurance broker suffered a blow when Panmure Gordon instructed punters to bail out, warning that its current share price could be as good as it gets.

Punch Taverns and Spirit Pub Group will update the market on Thursday, for the first time as separate entities since their split earlier this summer.

The boss and founder of transport group Stagecoach is in line for a £51 million windfall after the company unveiled its second huge cash handout in four years.

The recent troubles at Thomas Cook also knocked the share price of its rival TUI Travel, and this week investors will find out the extent to which the latter has been affected by the same sort of issues.

Carpetright, the UK's biggest floor-coverings retailer, gave warning yesterday it expects trading conditions to remain tough as it reported a 0.2 per cent decline in like-for-like sales.

A profit warning from its closest peer meant Misys continued its recent slump yesterday, raising fears once again over the status of the recent bid approach for the software company.