United Kingdom | Prompt payment (or rather the lack of it) is a hot topic in all industries, so much so that the UK government set up its “hall of shame”, aka its Prompt Payment Code (PPC) in 2008. On 1 November 2019, Johnnie Walker owner Diageo was among 20 companies to be suspended from the PPC, since it failed to comply with the Code’s terms of payment. Businesses signed up to the voluntary Code pledged to pay 95 percent of all supplier invoices within 60 days. Recently, the rules were tightened. As of 1 July 2021, signatories to PPC are obliged to pay small firms within 30 days.

United Kingdom | Doing the right thing can be tough sometimes. The overwhelming majority (96 percent) of small independent brewers in Scotland are unprepared for the Deposit Return Scheme, due to go live in July 2022, according to a new survey (August 2021) by the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA).

Germany | Isn’t there a saying like “you only know what you are missing when it is no longer there”? For 35 years, the Munich photographer Volker Derlath has been a regular at the Oktoberfest. In the thick of things, camera at the ready, he would capture beer-fuelled moments, ranging from the comical to the violent and anguished. For Mr Derlath, the Oktoberfest is a modern bacchanal, where life, freed from civilising constraints, can be lived to the fullest.

United Kingdom | A lack of qualified drivers combined with tough visa requirements for EU drivers are disrupting the country’s supply chains.

Russia | What are we to make of Russia currently creating the world’s most ambitious and strictest supply chain track and trace system? Its digital system, known as Chestny Znak (trans. “honest sign”), is expected to be fully operational in 2024.

Europe | Diageo, LVMH and Davide Campari Milano ended July 2021 with their shares at record highs. While LVMH’s 53 percent growth in organic revenue in the first six months of this year was driven largely by the dominant fashion and leather goods division, the Moët Hennessy wine and spirits arm achieved a sales increase of 56 percent on the coronavirus-crippled 2020.

Germany | It is turning into a never-ending story. On 27 August 2021, Carlsberg will be dragged to court again over price fixing which occurred between 2006 and 2008.

Germany | All families quarrel. But none more viciously if a business is involved. The five children from the first and second marriage of Rudolf-August Oetker, grandson of the eponymous founder of a custard powder dynasty, and the three offspring from his third have been at each other’s throats for years.

United Kingdom | Drinks group Diageo has beaten expectations for full-year sales as it gears up for the reopening of hospitality venues across Europe. On 29 July 2021 it reported net sales of GBP 12.7 billion (USD 17.5 billion) in the year to the end of June, up 8.3 percent on the previous year, but still slightly below 2019 sales which stood at GBP 12.8 billion.

Belgium | Michel Doukeris, AB-InBev’s new CEO, will be pleased. The brewer drove second-quarter turnover to above pre-pandemic levels and sharply boosted profit as drinkers took advantage of eased restrictions in its major markets.