At least three bidders are expected to be shortlisted for the second round of an auction for Unilever’s margarine and spreads business while two other private equity groups are no longer in the fray.

Buyout funds Blackstone and CVC Capital Partners, who were teaming up on a joint offer, are no longer in the running and nor is BC Partners, which bid on its own. That leaves a team comprising Bain Capital and Clayton Dubilier & Rice along with private equity rivals KKR and Apollo still in the race. (Reuters)

Sales growth at Costa Coffee shops came to a halt in the first half of the year, sending shares in its owner Whitbread to the bottom of the FTSE 100 index in London yesterday (The Times £). Whitbread says slowing growth at its Costa Coffee stores will recover as increasingly sophisticated British customers spend more on finer brews. Profits at Costa Coffee were hit this year by falling consumer confidence, statutory pay rises for baristas and the high cost of imported beans after the fall in the value of sterling (The Financial Times £). Sales growth at Costa’s established outlets has almost ground to a halt, in a sign UK coffee drinkers may be turning away from the large chains in favour of artisan alternatives (The Guardian). Whitbread is plotting further growth in its Premier Inn hotel chain even as tough conditions on the high street and rising costs hit its Costa Coffee arm in the UK (The Telegraph).

The FT’s Lex column writes on Whitbread: “This will fuel calls for a break-up. Boss Alison Brittain is unlikely to comply… There are a few tweaks that might help Costa get back some of its buzz. Short leases can be exploited to weed out weaker stores. More importantly, it should choose between parallel strategies of maxing out locations and offering pricier high-end coffee. Leave the fancy stuff to the artisans.” (The Financial Times £)

The Times’ Alistair Osborne writes: “The shares are kicking around on a historically low rating of 15 times earnings, yielding 2.6% — not exactly reflecting Stifel’s sum-of-the-parts valuation of £51 a share. Yes, that may be too high. But if Ms Brittain doesn’t start to close the gap, won’t some bidder wash up?” (The Times £)

Global wine production is to fall to its lowest level in more than 50 years. On Tuesday the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) said it expected an 8% decrease in global wine production to 247m hectolitres for 2017 (The Guardian). Harsh weather in the main wine-producing countries in Europe means global production is expected to drop by 8% this year (Sky News).

Poundland is being forced to redesign its copycat Toblerone bar, but can sell half a million of the lookalike chocolate this Christmas after reaching a sweet deal with the Swiss original’s owners. Poundland said that 500,000 of the bars, which are currently in production, would go on sale in December in “distinctive packaging” different from the light-gold wrapper it originally planned. (The Guardian)

A worker filmed changing food safety records at the scandal-hit 2 Sisters chicken plant in West Bromwich has been sacked, in what appears to be the first admission by the company of a regulatory breach. (The Guardian)

France is experiencing a butter shortage which, as well as pushing up the price of croissants, is causing a political problem for the President. Butter is in demand, milk production is in decline and President Emmanuel Macron is trying to make the food chain fairer for farmers. (Sky News)

Shoppers can expect fewer but bigger pumpkins on sale in the run-up to Halloween as a result of the UK’s wet summer, farmers and producers have warned. (The Guardian)

McDonald’s global same-store sales climbed 6% in the three months to the end of September, eclipsing analyst forecasts and reaffirming that the world’s largest burger chain’s turnround is on track (The Financial Times £). McDonald’s said customers were showing a strong appetite for its new home delivery service as it revealed the service had been rolled out to more than a fifth of UK restaurants (Sky News)

Chipotle shares crumbled in after-hours trading on Tuesday after the fast-casual burrito chain’s earnings badly missed expectations, a shortfall that the company blamed on fallout from a data breach and a pair of hurricanes that pummeled southeastern US states. (The Financial Times £)

Amazon has received 238 applications from cities across North America to host its new headquarters, the ecommerce group said on Monday, showing far higher demand for its HQ2 than had been anticipated. (The Financial Times £).

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