Scottish & Newcastle on Thursday tested investors’ faith by rejecting an improved takeover offer from Carlsberg and Heineken, saying it did not reflect the profitability of its Russian joint venture, BBH.

The conditional proposal of 750p per share, which values S&N at £7.3bn, follows an initial 720p offer from the Danish and Dutch brewers made last month which S&N also turned down, describing it as “derisory”.