Nomura is already planning to streamline its estate by getting rid of some of its worst-performing pubs, and industry sources believe it will go further and initiate a far-reaching disposal programme.
One City observer said: “It is looking to restructure its estate and is likely to sell a large number of pubs … perhaps as many as 1,000.”Nomura is also eyeing up more acquisitions to add to its 4,400-strong tied estate. Sales in November and December are higher than equivalent figures in 1996, according to a survey by PEP Direct, a PEP broker. “Many investors are angry about the lifetime ceiling and the reduced annual allowance but they want to make the most of PEPs now whilst they can,” said the broker.

“We are also encouraged by the Inland Revenue’s willingness to review the pounds 50,000 limit upwards and hope that our discussions in January will yield results.” PEP fund manager Jupiter has been the best performer, providing more than a third of PEPs, almost three times its nearest rival, Perpetual.. The Government’s decision to introduce Individual Savings Accounts has not deterred people from investing in PEPs. Asda said last week that it had not had any recent contact with Safeway and ruled out a hostile bid for the company.. “There has been no attempt to re-open the confidential guidance process,” said a spokesman, who added that the constant speculation was disruptive. Safeway yesterday denied that it has re-started talks with the competition authorities over whether the Government would block a merger with Asda.

The supermarket group said it had not had any contact with the regulatory authorities since September, when talks over the pounds 9bn merger broke down. Increased pressure on margins could feed through into job losses, she warned.Increasing levels of settlements in service industries largely reflected the buoyancy in the business services sector in a quiet part of the year for pay reviews.Since August there had been a wide variation in awards, reflecting the different circumstances of individual service firms. Some 14 per cent of settlements were at or below 2.5 per cent; 35 per cent between 2.5 and 3.5 per cent; 21 per cent between 3.5 and 4.5 per cent; 17 per cent between 4.5 and 5.5 per cent and the remaining 13 per cent were above 5.5 per cent.. One in five pointed to their need to recruit and retain employees – a sign partly of the shortage of information technology specialists.Kate Barker, chief economist at the CBI, said that the figures would need to be monitored closely because of their potential impact on inflation, but argued that the Bank of England should not be “panicked” into putting up interest rates again.There were indications that economic growth might be slowing down, so that the most important effect for manufacturers of increasing pay settlements would be lower profits rather than inflation. The prospect of higher rates comes amid evidence that retailers have experienced a poorer than expected Christmas while some economists suggest that bargains in the January sales will be at record levels as shops try to offload unsold stock.
According to figures from the CBI Pay Databank published today, pay awards are now running at an average 3.4 per cent in manufacturing compared with 3 per cent a year ago and in the quarter to August.In the service sector, deals were averaging 4.4 per cent in the three months to November, compared with 3.9 per cent in the quarters to last August and November 1996.Around half of British manufacturers report that cost of living increases were an important upward pressure on settlements.