PERNOD Ricard's expansion into the alcopops business with its acquisition of the Aussie group Two Dogs has not impressed some sections of the market.

The joke doing the rounds this week went along the lines of what do you get when you add Two Dogs to Pernod? Answer: Three Dogs.

The Margin is not a regular imbiber of alcopops; the dayglo colours of most of the concoctions puts off somebody whose regular tipple is a very distinct black and white - and that's not the whisky.