Quote, unquote: just-food's week in words

The food world this week has been dominated by the news that Tesco's long-serving CEO Terry Leahy is to step down after 14 years at the top of the company. There was also more on Wal-Mart's interest in Russia and the takeover battle in the US for c-store business Casey's General Stores.

"When I became CEO I had a plan to build Tesco around its customers, to make it number one in the UK and to find new long-term growth in non-food, in services and in international expansion. It has taken 14 years but that strategy has become a firm reality now and so I feel my work is almost complete" - Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy announces his surprise decision to stand down.

"Terry Leahy's record is second to none. He's taken a business solely focused on UK grocery and built it up so, while one in every GBP8 spent in the UK goes through Tesco's tills, they are now also the biggest retailer in South Korea, the biggest retailer in Thailand and they have number one or number two positions in 12 countries" - Darren Shirley, analyst at Shore Capital on Sir Terry Leahy's legacy.

"After two months, Couche-Tard still has not secured committed financing and will be forced to drum up the majority of the financing necessary - approximately $1.3bn - to complete its offer during a time of extreme volatility" - US c-store retailer Casey's General Stores goes on the front foot in its takeover battle with Couche-Tard.

"One of the things that has been a hindrance in Russia is just an agreement on price. If you wanted to have some scale to start out, you have to have a willing seller and therefore you have to come together on valuation. Until something is done, it's not done" - Wal Mart international chief Doug McMillon on barriers to Russian expansion.

"Because MNI's competencies and successful product lines are so complementary to ours, the combination of the two businesses will reinforce Danone's leadership in Advanced Medical Nutrition, and allow us to expand our reach and benefit the quality of life of more patients, particularly in the US" - Flemming Morgan, Danone's president for medical nutrition talks about the firm's purchase of Medical Nutrition USA.

"When we look at the benefit of marketing, we believe that we see significant impact coming forward across the entire portfolio. We see only continuing benefit from our marketing investment" - Del Monte Foods chief Rick Wolford insists the firm will continue to see the fruits of investment in marketing.

“Australia is still on our radar screen, we’ve talked about Australia now going on probably five to seven years and it still is a very interesting platform for us, only because of the milk pricing based on international market factors, as well as bi-lateral agreements" - Saputo CEO Lino Saputo Jr. believes the companay is ready to make more acquisitions.

"The market is overly optimistic regarding Hershey’s prospects as more than 85% of sales stem from the mature domestic market" - Morningstar analyst Erin Swanson comments on Hershey's needs to pick up the pace of its expansion into fast-growing markets.

"It’s a case of working very hard, looking for opportunities and keeping our head up at a time when there are going to be quite a lot of pressures in the market. But we feel we are in a good position" - Milk Link corporate affairs director Will Sanderson talks about "unlocking potential" in the firm.

"There won't be a flotation. I've done that once. Neither will we work with a VC [venture capital firm]. We've proved by our spectacular performance that we work best when we're left alone" - Iceland Foods boss Malcolm Walker answers speculation about the firm's future ownership.