MCCURRACH, the Scottish retail consultancy chaired by Morrisons chairman Andrew Higginson, has been touted as a takeover target.

It comes after the Glasgow-based firm, which advises brands on maximising sales in supermarkets, hired advisers at Deloitte to identify new investors.

The company, which was more than 1000 staff and was established more than a century ago, is already on the radar of private equity firms, The Sunday Times reports.

The Treasury is mulling plans to sell shares in Lloyds Banking Group in a campaign echoing the "Tell Sid" British Gas sell off in the 1980s, the same newspaper said.

Aldi will open more new shops in the UK this year than Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury's combined, according to research highlighted in The Sunday Telegraph.

The newspaper also quotes Legal & General chief executive Nigel Wilson as saying the UK government risks driving banks overseas because of the levy imposed on the industry.

The comments from the boss of L&G, one of the biggest investors in UK banks, come after Chancellor George Osborne raised the bank levy for the eighth time in four years in last week's Budget as the Treasury looks to raise £5.3bn more from banks.

Osborne said the latest rise - by 0.21 per cent - will raise an extra £900m.

The hotel group owned by Sir Rocco Forte, whose portfolio includes the Balmoral in Edinburgh, has seen profits more than treble in its latest financial year.

Rocco Forte & Family posted pre-tax profits of £10.4m in the year ended April 30, boosted by the sale of a London property, The Mail on Sunday reports.