And finally…Sainsbury’s boss caught singing ‘We’re in the money’ as Asda deal sets shares soaring

Mike Coupe, the boss of supermarket giant Sainsbury’s, which this week agreed to a mega bucks acquisition of fellow retail heavyweight Asda, has apologised after being caught on camera singing “We’re in the money” prior to an interview about the deal.

Mr Coupe is a shareholder in Sainsbury’s, and shares in the supermarket jumped by nearly 15 per cent on Monday after the Asda deal was announced.

He was filmed singing the words to the show tune as he was waiting to be interviewed for ITV News.

The song is one of the key tunes used in the musical 42nd Street, which Mr Coupe said he had seen last year.

He busked some lines from it: “We’re in the money, the sky is sunny, let’s lend it, spent it, send it rolling along,” while sitting waiting to be interviewed.

Mr Coupe said: “It was an unfortunate choice of song” and apologised if he had offended anybody.

But Ian Cass, managing director of the Forum of Private Business, gave Mr Coupe the thumbs down for his choice of song, if not his performance.

Mr Cass said: “If that’s the song he’s singing and highlights his position on this, I very much doubt small suppliers would choose the same song to sing, and one option would be Highway to Hell.

“It’s almost like, what’s in it for him? I’m sure his bonus and dividend will go up massively because of this merger.

“I don’t think there’s any degree of sensitivity to our concerns. A lot of business organisations and suppliers have said this merger is making them very nervous.”