Browsing Archive: January, 2010
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Thursday, January 28, 2010,
In :
confectionery
As always said, the expected Kraft-Cadbury deal will trigger further changes in the confectionery world. One of such speculations is that Swiss food group Nestlé is likely to set itself a long-term goal to buy Hershey , hoping that market pressures after the Kraft-Cadbury deal will wear down opposition from the controlling Hershey Trust.
It is argued that after Kraft and Cadbury merge, Hershey's main U.S. market will become more competitive and as being a pure confectionery player, Hershey... Continue reading ...
Kraft Foods said today that it has reduced the number of acceptances required to fulfil the conditions of its takeover offer for Cadbury to 50% plus one shares, from 90%. Cadbury shareholders have until Feb. 2 to accept Kraft's improved offer for the firm. Source: Market Watch Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Wednesday, January 27, 2010,
In :
new products
Kellogg has expanded its line of Special K products in the US with the introduction of Special K low fat granola and Special K fruit crisps. The new Special K granola contains 3g of fat per 52g serving, 190 calories and six grams of protein and five grams of fibre.
Meanwhile, the company is also bringing out Special K fruit crisps as a “healthier” snacking option. At 100 calories pre serving, the new bars are available in Strawberry and Blueberry flavours.
"When managing their weight ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Wednesday, January 27, 2010,
In :
confectionery
Since its acquisition by Turkish food manufacturer Yildiz Holding, Godiva Chocolatier has expanded its reach into new distribution channels and markets through premium product innovations featuring its upscale Belgian chocolate. Yildiz Holding, parent company of the privately held Turkish food manufacturer The Ülker Group, had purchased Godiva from Campbell Soup Co. in early 2008 for $850 million.
The acquisition has enabled Godiva to aspire to its full potential, CEO Jim Goldman says, than... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Tuesday, January 26, 2010,
In :
retail
Deloitte has released a report on the global powers of retail in 2010. The report lists top 250 retailers in the world based on their 2008 figures. According to this report the top 10 players in global retail arena are these: 1- Wal-Mart - US 2- Carrefour - France 3- Metro - Germany 4- Tesco - UK 5- Schwarz - Germany 6- Kroger - US 7- Home Depot - US 8- Costco - US 9- Aldi - Germany 10- Target - US You can access the report from this link. Continue reading ...
Recently a group of initiators have build up a web site www.savecadbury.com targeting to prepare a petition for keeping Cadbury's British identity. The web site explains its aim as follows: " We aim to have one million names on our petition to stop the takeover of a Great British Institution by a faceless American corporation before it’s too late. Do your bit for Queen and Country by adding your name to the petition below. Simply add a comment with your name and town to electronically sign.... Continue reading ...
Ferrero has ruled out a rival bid for Cadbury, clearing the way for Kraft Foods to complete its £11.7 billion ($18.9 billion) proposed takeover of the British confectioner, Reuters reported.
Fellow chocolate maker Hershey said on Friday it had no intention of bidding for Cadbury, so with Nestlé already ruled out, Kraft appears on course to complete its recommended bid by the deadline of Feb. 2.
“Further to its announcement of Nov. 18, 2009, Ferrero International SA confirms that it doe... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Tuesday, January 26, 2010,
In :
retail
Sam's Club, the warehouse club division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc is cutting roughly 11,200 jobs, or about 10 percent of its workforce, as it outsources in-store product demonstrations and eliminates positions used to recruit new business members. Sam's Club Chief Executive Officer Brian Cornell said on Sunday that the retailer would outline charges associated with the job cuts in February, when it releases fourth-quarter results. He said he did not expect any "material impact" on its financial ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Tuesday, January 26, 2010,
In :
retail
U.S. retail sales should rise 2.5 percent this year, signaling that store chains have made it through the worst of the downturn as improvements in the housing and job markets bolster shoppers' confidence, a trade group forecast on Tuesday. The 2010 forecast from the National Retail Federation marks an expected improvement from a 2.5 percent drop in 2009 and a 1.3 percent increase in 2008. The data covers retail industry sales, excluding automobiles, gas stations, and restaurants.
This year's... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Friday, January 22, 2010,
In :
reading pieces
I am copying here an article (a posting in fact) appeared in Harvard Business Review blog section. Although it has nothing to do with food industry, since it brings an interesting discussion to our attention, I liked to share it with you. I hope you like it...If you want to see also the comments written for this posting please visit here:
2:36 PM Thursday January 21, 2010
by Byron Reeves and Leighton Read
The movie Avatar is a stunning and vivid depiction of a fantasy world unimaginable w... Continue reading ...
Danish dairy group Arla Foods is to enter the ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee category as part of a joint venture with Starbucks.The companies announced that Arla will manufacture, distribute and market Starbucks-branded premium RTD coffee beverages in Europe.
Arla CEO Peder Tuborgh.said ”Starbucks is a super brand around the world, based on strong values and high quality products and we are very pleased about the fact that Starbucks and Arla will work together in the European RTD cold coffee b... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Friday, January 22, 2010,
In :
Marketing
Food and drinks firms which regularly increase their investment in marketing typically see more rapid revenue and profit growth than their cautious rivals, a new study has found. Deutsche Bank analysed the performance of 30 of the biggest companies in food and drinks industry– including Carlsberg, Danone, Diageo, Nestlé and Reckitt-Benckiser – over the last 15 years. It found that organisations which committed more funds to communications saw their sales rise 30% more quickly than competit... Continue reading ...
U.S. chocolate maker Hershey Co has decided not to launch a counterbid for British confectioner Cadbury Plc following a unanimous vote by its board late on Wednesday, the Financial Times said, citing a person briefed on the matter. Source: Financial Times Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Friday, January 22, 2010,
In :
confectionery
Although Lindt & Sprngli AG experienced 2.3 percent organic growth and expanded its market share in 2009, the Swiss chocolate maker says its 1.9 percent drop in annual sales is indicative of the still-difficult market conditions for premium chocolate. “In view of the challenging situation for premium and luxury products,” read a statement from the company, “this sales growth is a satisfactory result.”
In the U.S., sales demonstrated “above-average development especially in the sec... Continue reading ...
In the conference call, Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld had with Wall Street analysts, she mentiones several major synergy points of this tie-up. These will be the preliminery outcomes of this acquisition, aside from financial and/or tax benefits, feel free to comment on them or add more if you like: - Cadbury has more "instant consumption" channels like gas stations, cornershops which are well penetrated by Cadbury products in many countries ( also in Turkey where I live) wheras Kraft is more c... Continue reading ...
A follow-up study announced by Shoppercentric, an independent agency specialising in shopper behaviour research, shows that due to the recession, the number of consumers that have had to make significant adjustments to their weekly grocery shopping continues to rise and now represents nearly a third of the UK population (30%) - an increase of 25% on January 2009.
This study follows up from Shoppercentric’s “Shopping in the Recession” January 2009 report, and its purpose is to provide... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Wednesday, January 20, 2010,
In :
FMCG
As Haiti struggles in the wake of last Tuesday's earthquake, companies including Coca-Cola, ConAgra and Kellogg are giving money to the American Red Cross for help. Procter & Gamble, meanwhile, is working with organizations "to assess the situation and determine how much of our PUR Purifier of Water product is available in the area to be deployed and how much more we would need to ship," said a spokeswoman. Continue reading ...
Kraft has reached a tentative deal for a friendly takeover of Cadbury, agreeing in principle to pay about $19 billion in cash and stock for the confectioner, people briefed on the matter said on Monday. If realized, the deal would create a global food giant that would unite Kraft with Cadbury . Together, the two companies would have more than $50 billion in revenue and a big presence in markets globally.Most recently Mars buying the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in 2008 for $23 billion became the b... Continue reading ...
Cadbury Turkey announced today a management change. Mr. Ahjaz Ahmad Khan who is the managing director of Cadbury in Turkey, leaves as of end of February. He will be replaced with Mr. Konstantinos (Kostas) Vlachos who currently holds assistant general manager post in Cadbury PLC in charge of European Gum Cathegory. Mr. Vlachos also served as the marketing director in Turkey after acquision of Kent by Cadbury. Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Monday, January 18, 2010,
Cargill, Inc. reports $489 million in earnings for the fiscal 2010 second quarter ended November 30, 2009, down 59 percent from $1.19 billion in the same period in 2008. However, food ingredients and agriculture services segments, which include sweeteners, cocoa, flavors and edible oils, were both up significantly from last year, according to Lisa Clemens, director of investor relations for Cargill.
“Food ingredients is our largest in terms of number of business units, and it has over 40 b... Continue reading ...
It is expected that today (monday) Kraft may raise its initial value of hostile bid for Cadbury above 800p. Today is a holiday in US and stock markets are closed. Despite supportive announcements of several British investors to Cadbury management, those US investors of Cadbury which hold at least 40% of the shares may be willing to exchange their shares with Kraft when the offer is around 820p or over.
On the other hand, the rumors that Hershey is preparing to make a bid, gets stronger. We ma... Continue reading ...
After an uncertain 2009 for consumers and brands alike, The Oxford Research Agency predicts that 2010 will see an uplift in consumer confidence providing opportunities for brands to take a positive approach for the year ahead.
2009 was encapsulated by uncertainty reflected in a cautious consumer which in turn led to brands reigning back on NPD and product development.
As predicted by Mintel in its recent report on global consumer trends, 2010 should see a return to consumer confidence.
Re-ev... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Friday, January 15, 2010,
In :
ingredients
In its report Nanotechnologies and Food, published today, the Science and Technology Committee of The House of Lords in UK, is highly critical of the food industry for failing to be transparent about its research into the uses of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials.
It noted that transparency is key for ensuring public trust in both food safety and scientific developments, and argued that although there is no evidence that the use of nanotechnologies in food currently presents a threat to c... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Friday, January 15, 2010,
In :
confectionery
The Swiss industrial chocolate manufacturer Callebaut reported a 7.2 per cent increase in sales volumes in the three months prior to 30 November 2009, to 362,973 metric tonnes. Sales in local currencies were up 6.3 per cent, but 1.5 per cent in its reporting currency, to CHF 1,429.1.
CEO Juergen Steinemann expects the company will continue to outperform the market, based on its growth strategy and order book. Barry Callebaut’s three year growth targets through to 2011/12 are for an avera... Continue reading ...
Fast food giant KFC has pulled an Australian television advertisement after it was branded racist in the United States.
The ad depicts a white Australian cricket fan subduing boisterous black West Indian fans by sharing his fried chicken.
"Need a tip when you're stuck in an awkward situation?" the Australian asks. "Too easy," he adds after the West Indian supporters surrounding him give up their celebrating to eat his KFC.
The spot, which foreshadows a much-anticipated clash between the tw... Continue reading ...
A German court battle has put the relationship between marketer and media agency on trial as French dairy giant Danone Groupe accuses Aegis Media of failing to pass on the full benefit of discounts gained from bulk media purchases more than five years ago.
In an attempt to resolve the dispute, the Higher Regional Court in Munich has ruled verbally that Aegis Media's Carat operation in Germany must open up its books. Aegis, unwilling to reveal sensitive market information, is awaiting the wr... Continue reading ...
Some people who have internal access claim that Hershey is preparing a counter-bid to Kraft hostile offer for Cadbury. They say that Hershey can make a formal offer before the January 23 deadline, .
Such a Hershey bid would certainly be welcomed by Cadbury. Although Cadbury has not solicited a “white knight” bid from Hershey publicly, the confectioner has made clear that it would prefer Hershey to Kraft.
Roger Carr, the UK company’s chairman, has told the Financial Times that Her... Continue reading ...
The Hartman Group has prepared a report where they explore the culture through consumer's eye..they named it as " Big Ideas and Things We Like" and they described it as follows: "Trends don’t happen every day. Rather than chasing trends just to see where they might lead us, The Hartman Group remains dedicated to the way we do things: exploring culture through the consumer lens, listening to what consumers are saying and reflecting on consumers' actual behaviors. This report considers many ... Continue reading ...
Ferrero, the Italian chocolate maker, was on Tuesday night debating abandoning a pursuit of Cadbury. It is said the Ferrero family, which controls the group, was close to dropping out of the Cadbury battle following a decision by Michele Ferrero, the group’s chairman. Mr Ferrero was understood to be against the move because it involved too much debt for a company that has traditionally not made acquisitions. On the other hand there are rumors that there is no consensus in the family on th... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Wednesday, January 13, 2010,
In :
ingredients
Bitter, warm and earthy are the key flavor notes expected to dominate developments in food products this year, according to the tenth annual McCormick & Co., Inc. Flavor Forecast.
Flavor experts at McCormick partnered with top chefs, food bloggers and other culinary professionals to classify the strong flavor combinations they state the American palate is ready to embrace.
According to the company, the top 10 flavor pairings determined to lead in 2010 are:
- Roasted ginger and rhubarb
- Tha...
Continue reading ...
Cadbury showcased robust 2009 results and an upbeat outlook on Tuesday in its last move to rebuff U.S. food giant Kraft Foods' 10.5 billion pound ($17 billion) hostile takeover bid.
In a final defense document, the British confectioner said Kraft's "derisory" offer valued Cadbury lower than any comparable deal in the sector and that its standalone value had risen since the Kraft bid emerged last September.
"Our performance in 2009 was outstanding. We generated good revenue growth despite th... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Monday, January 11, 2010,
In :
retail
Auchan is planning to transform an existing 9,000 sq.m hypermarket in Mulhouse, eastern France, into a discount outlet trading under the new Priba by Auchan name.
It is not clear if this move marks a turning point in its strategy and a shift towards a greater discount offering. A spokesman claimed the reason of conversion was to respond to the underperformance of the store and if succesful they may try the same model in other areas.
The discount hypermarket is scheduled to open by early Ap... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Monday, January 11, 2010,
In :
confectionery
Nestle has said its confectionery business has “sufficient size and scale” to allow the company to compete in the sector even if Kraft Foods succeeds in its bid for Cadbury. Speaking to analysts, CFO Jim Singh said Nestle could perform “competitively across the world” in confectionery. “We have 152 products representing 77 brands, that are either number one or number two in their market," Singh said. "So, when you look at our business, we believe we have sufficient size and scale in... Continue reading ...
Today Reuters reports that there are rumors that Cadbury Board members are in touch with their counterparts in Hershey for seeking a "merger partner" against their "hostile bidder"...Those who remember my previous comments know that my expectation from this battle is a Hershey involvement. A source says: "As they go through this process, they feel as though they (Cadbury) want to have a management say in the organization and I think that they perceive that one of the suitors is better than th... Continue reading ...
The European Commission said on Wednesday it had given conditional approval for U.S. food group Kraft Foods Inc to take over British confectionery maker Cadbury. The European Union executive said in a written statement the hostile bid was conditional on Kraft's divestment of Cadbury's Polish and Romanian chocolate confectionery businesses.
The combination of Kraft and Cadbury would create the world's largest sweets, chewing-gum and chocolate group, overtaking Mars-Wrigley.
The Commission t... Continue reading ...
Wall Street Journal reported that investor Warren Buffett waded into the battle for Cadbury PLC, issuing a rebuke of Kraft Foods Inc.'s just-sweetened, nearly $17 billion takeover offer for the British confectionary company. As Kraft's largest shareholder—with a 9.4% stake—Mr. Buffett's holding company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said it wouldn't support the issuance of new shares to pay for a Cadbury deal. "To state the matter simply, a shareholder voting 'yes' today is authorizing a huge ... Continue reading ...
Smithfield Foods has completed the sale of most of its RMH Foods entree business and its Maverick Food joint venture in China. It was announced yesterday that it has sold all of the assets of RMH Foods, which produces fully cooked beef, pork and chicken entrees, to a group of investors led by the Rocke family meanwhile Maverick Food, the group’s Chinese joint venture, has also been sold to COFCO Limited, China's largest national agricultural trading and processing company.
Larry Pope, pr... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Tuesday, January 5, 2010,
In :
confectionery
Nestlé announced yesterday that pharmaceuticals group Novartis had exercised its call option to buy a 52% stake in Alcon for around US$28bn in cash. Novartis has bought 25% of Alcon in April 2008 for $10.4bn and plans to buy the remaining 23% of the business, offering investors a 12% premium if they agree to exchange their Alcon shares for Novartis ones. The move will cost around $11.2bn
Nestle has also confirmed that it plans to invest GBP15m (US$24.2m) over the next three years to upgrade... Continue reading ...
Kraft Foods has this morning (5 January) revealed plans to offer more cash to the shareholders of Cadbury. This happends after Kraft agreed to sell its North American frozen pizza business to Nestle. In this new offer Cadbury investors will have the chance to receive a "partial cash alternative". Meanwhile, in the wake of the pizza sale, Nestle, which had been also shown as a possible bidder for Cadbury, issued a statement to announce that "does not intend to make, or participate in, a for... Continue reading ...
A majority of consumers in markets like France and Germany have increased their expenditure in the last ten years, but many are cautious about their prospects for the next decade. Harris Interactive, the research firm, conducted a survey of 6,182 adults in France, Germany, Spain, the UK and US on behalf of the Financial Times, the daily newspaper. Some 43% of Americans said they were "optimistic" about the coming decade, compared with 41% of Spaniards, 37% of Germans, 31% of Italians, 29% of Br... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Monday, January 4, 2010,
In :
M&A
Reinventing Ourselves
One of my favorite television programs is "Biography." As I watched a recent program, I noticed that there seemed to be a common theme running through these uncommon lives. After reaching a pinnacle of success, they encountered the down slope in their lives and careers.
As I recalled the numerous biographical or autobiographical books that I have read, I realized that the reason that the books were so impactful was that each person featured in these books found some wa... Continue reading ...
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Turgut Ziyal, the owner of this blog, offers consultancy services for the companies planning to enter in the Turkish Food & Beverages market.
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About This Blog:
| getfoodnews |
| Turgut@Getfoodnews.Com |
In this blog I try to compile the news related with food industry. This includes food companies, retailers, ingredients, regulations, mergers&acqusitions and others. In each post I try to designate the source of the news and add a link to the original document.
I hope you find it useful. For any comments please feel free to send me an email (turgut@getfoodnews.com). You can post your comments inside the boxes appearing at the end of each posting when clicked the headline.
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