Brussels is probing Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands over their tax deals with multinationals paving the way potentially for a formal investigation into illegal sweeteners. Europe’s top competition authority has asked the governments to explain their system of tax rulings and give details of assurances given to several specific companies – including Apple and Starbucks – according to people who have seen the request, the Financial Times explains.

Some water bills could fall by as much as 13% by the end of the decade with the industry regulator warning that it is to get tough on profiteering. Stung by a stream of negative publicity about the earnings of the big water companies, many of them foreign-owned, Ofwat has told bosses they should give up some of their profits and take advantage of record low interest rates to cut spending costs, The Times reports.

Over 75s have seen disposable incomes surge by almost a fifth during the economic downturn – the equivalent of £1,000 a year since 2008, a new study has revealed. While households across the country have seen their incomes squeezed by stagnant wage growth and rising inflation, some have had a much tougher time than others, new figures from Asda and the Centre for Economics and Business Research reveal. The gap has emerged as pensioners have seen rises in their income protected, while younger workers have been hit by stagnant wages and higher unemployment, The Daily Mail reports.

Grocery sales in the UK are set to surge by a fifth to more than £200bn by 2018 amid a combination of inflation, an increasing population and a steadily improving economy. Research from IGD, the consumer goods research group, predicts growth of 21% to push the market to roughly £206bn in the next five years. UK food sales are currently worth almost £170bn, up 3.7% on 2012, The Scotsman says.

The pound surged yesterday to its highest level against the dollar since January as investors bet that the Bank of England will lift rates sooner than expected in response to the rapidly improving jobs market. The number of jobless benefit claimants dropped to 1.4m in August, the lowest since early 2009, in the latest sign that Britain’s recovery is gathering steam, The Times says.