Unilever announced changes to its category and go-to-market structure to further support its growth plans, especially in its fast-developing businesses in the emerging markets. The new structure allows for a more efficient rollout of increasingly bigger and more scalable innovations, and the optimization of resources behind strategic priorities.

“Unilever now has over half its turnover in the emerging markets, where, over the last 10 years, growth has been close to double digits. We have a...

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International food giants Kraft and Unilever along with the German brand Dr. Oetker were fined a total of 38 million euros (53 million dollars) by Germany's Cartel Office. The companies' German divisions were found to have broken competition law by meeting to share information on their negotiations with retailers, the office said.  "Competition was hindered by these actions, even though it was not a question of classic collusion on prices, territories or clients," a statement read.

During th...

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Two of the leading global food and beverage companies reported their 2010 financial results in the first two weeks of February. Both Unilever and Kraft Foods reported strong growth in their net sales, but profit margins remained largely flat, impacted by a number of factors.

The increase in input costs, the still weak economies in core developed markets and tough competition in terms of pricing, particularly from private label products, were the main issues impacting most industry players.

Re...

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Cargill has signed an agreement to buy Unliever's tomato products business in Brazil for around BRL600m (US$350.6m).

The acquisition will include the Pomarola, Tarantella, Elefante, Extratomato, and Pomodoro brands, and a manufacturing facility based in Goiania, Brazil (Goias State) and related manufacturing assets.

Under the agreement, Unilever will continue to market tomato products to the foodservice channel under these brands but Cargill will manufacture these items under a co-packaging...

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Unilever announced that it has agreed to buy the ice-cream brands (including Scandal, Variete and Karabola)  of Greek business EVGA which is based in Athens.

Under the deal, signed for an undisclosed sum, Unilever will also acquire EVGA's distribution network. EVGA will manufacture the Greek brands and a selection of Unilever brands for the local market. Around 65 EVGA employees will move to Unilever.

 

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Unilever is to acquire Danish ice-cream business Diplom-Is from Norwegian dairy group Tine. Tine owns and operates Diplom-Is in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The transaction will include 30 employees and five distribution centres in the country. The value of the deal, which is expected to close on 30 September, is undisclosed.

Unilever's brand portfolio in Denmark includes brands such as Magnum, Cornetto and Carte d’Or.

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Nestlé is the leading multinational company when it comes to developing marketing strategies for Muslim consumers, according to Miles Young, worldwide CEO of Ogilvy & Mather.

Speaking to Warc at the Oxford Global Islamic Branding and Marketing Forum at the Saïd Business School, Young said Nestlé had most quickly identified Muslim shoppers as an important demographic."Nestlé is probably the role model for doing this properly. It has done it out of conviction – there's a commitment in ever...
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Unilever  confirmed the sale of its Findus Italy business to frozen-foods group Birds Eye Iglo in a deal worth 805m EUR (1.04bnUS$). Unilever said it had sold Findus Italy "to a company in which Birds Eye Iglo has a significant stake" three months after it had put the business on the block.

Unilever said Findus Italy, which sells brands including 4 Salti in Padella, Sofficini and Captain Findus, generated 462m EUR turnover in 2009.

The deal remains subject to regulatory clearance from the...

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The Organisers of the 57th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival presented this year’s prestigious Advertiser of the Year award to the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant, Unilever, owner of many of the world’s best-loved foods, beverages and home & and personal care brands.

Known around the world for their thought-provoking yet entertaining advertising campaigns, Unilever won their first Cannes Lion for OMO washing powder back in 1961. Since then, Unilever brands have gone on to wi...
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Dairy group Danone is at the top of the list for category dominance in the European food sector, followed by Unilever and Nestle, according to a new report by Sanford C. Bernstein Research Company of USA. The researcher identifies a sustainable top line growth based on categories, markets, category dominance and execution. Holding the top position in a category is considered a major business advantage, not only because of higher sales volumes but also because it allows for improved negotiatio...
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Consumer goods giant Unilever Plc/NV expects its strong sales volume growth in Western Europe to slow later in 2010 after pushing up prices as commodity costs start to rise again, its western European chief executive said.

Western Europe accounts for 30 percent of Unilever Plc/NV's global sales and the region has turned in four successive quarters of positive underlying volume growth as it looks to reinvigorate these mature and sluggish markets.

"We see a continuation of volume growth in 20...

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Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever has appointed former Nestle executive Eugenio Minvielle to oversee the company's North American businesses. Mr. Minvielle who served as president and CEO of Nestle's businesses in France, Mexico and Venezuela, will join Unilever as executive vice president, North America. Mr.Minvielle will be responsible for Unilever’s US$10bn operations in the US, Canada and the Caribbean. He will report to Dave Lewis who was recently appointed to replace Michael P...
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Unilever, plans to sell its Italian frozen food business Findus Italy for up to 800 million euro. It is expected to start welcoming takeover bids this month.

Findus Italy, a producer of ready-meal carbonara and bolognese dishes, emerged as a disposal candidate in December. At the time  it was reported that Goldman Sachs was working with Unilever on the sale. Financial reports have linked private equity firms Permira and Lion Capital, which own Birds Eye Iglo and Findus Group, to the deal. Th...

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French cheese-make Bongrain has acquired the German spreads brand Brunch from UNILEVER. Bongrain, which owns the German soft cheese business Edelweiss, was manufacturing Brunch for Unilever as a co-packer .

A spokesman for Unilever Deutschland said the decision to sell Brunch was not a bad sign for the brand."It's a win-win situation, it's nothing against the brand," he said.

Both sides declined to comment on the financial details of the transaction.

Source: Just-food.com

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French food group Danone waits a European ruling on the health benefit claims it makes on two of its best-selling yoghurts Activia and Actimel. The decision expected from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is important for Danone mainly because its strategy focuses on differentiating dairy brands with a "good for you" proposition. If a negative decision appears, this could ultimately force Danone to redesign its  growth model in dairy business, which made up almost 60 percent of the gr...
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Belgian holding company NPM/CNP Compagnie Nationale à Portefeuille is reportedly planning to sell its wholly-owned company Belgian Icecream Group (BIG). BIG is Belgium's biggest ice cream producer and reported a turnover of 88 million euro in 2008. BIG employs about 500 people. Banca Leonardo, has been appointed to handle the transaction, according to the Belgian press.  The company has 3 production sites in Belgium (Tielen, Chênée and Kuurne) and 7 depots all over the country

Belgian da...

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Unilever has announced underlying sales growth of 3.5% for 2009, but blamed “a challenging environment” for a slump in profits.Price cuts helped drive volume growth of 2.3% over the year, accelerating in the fourth quarter to 5%. The volume increase was seen across most of its key categories.But profits before tax fell significantly from €7bn to €4.9bn, while total sales were down 1.7% to €39.8bn. Advertising and promotional spend increased by 80bps across the year. Unilever also sa...
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Unilever has recalled an estimated 10 million cans of its Slim-Fast ready-to-drink products in North America. The company said all flavours of the canned slimming beverage could be tainted with the micro-organism Bacillus cereus, as it issued a nationwide voluntary recall across both the United States and Canada.

The products are packaged in paperboard cartons and  the affected products were also sold as individual cans at certain outlets.

Unilever said it was working with the US Food a...

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Unilever is reportedly considering the sale of its Italian frozen food business Findus Italy.

The consumer goods giant is working with Goldman Sachs on a deal worth up to €800m.

Birds Eye Iglo and the Findus Group are among the potential buyers, according to the Financial Times.

Findus Italy was the only part of Unilever’s European frozen food business that it kept when it sold Birds Eye and Iglo in 2006.

source: the grocer

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Unilever, the world's second-largest consumer goods company, is heightening its focus on innovation, as it seeks to strengthen its position both during and after the economic downturn.

The Anglo-Dutch giant is hoping to introduce the first new products that have formed part of its recent development drive, operating under the title of Genesis, in 2010.

According to Genevieve Berger, the company's chief innovation officer, it will then unveil a number of "big innovations" over the course of the ...
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Mars is planning to stop the production of its ready-made soups in Russia, sold under the Gourmania brand.

According to analysts, the company failed to achieve significant sales despite the multimillion-dollar investments in production and promotion due to the unsuccessful positioning of the brand. 

Mars began production of liquid soups in Russia in 2004. Gourmania is not the first soup brand to exit the Russian market. Earlier, Mars withdrew Uncle Ben's soups and Unliever ceased sale of...

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