The financial results continued to roll in last week with Danone adamant it will return to growth in Europe despite the macro-economic environment and the new CEO of Premier Foods plc outlining his focus for the company. The horsemeat saga also rumbled on with Nestle and Birds Eye being forced to pull ready meals in Europe. Elsewhere, Ebro Foods revealed plans for the brands it bought as part of the Riso Scotti deal.
“We consider the crisis in Europe will not stop tomorrow. We can’t wait. We give ourselves two years to re-adapt our organisation, to simplify it” – Danone chief Franck Riboud says the company will “re-adapt” in Europe in order to return to growth.
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“I will focus and lead from the front in terms of execution and the company will feel the pace from the top where we will look at more reductions in savings to accelerate investment” – Premier Foods plc CEO Gavin Darby outlines his focus for the company three weeks into the role.
“We are scaling up the testing facilities to meet our new commitment to test every single batch of beef raw material that we receive from our suppliers for horse DNA. We will not sell any product containing beef unless that beef has been tested” – Nestle on its new system of testing after Buitoni products on sale in Spain and Italy were found to contain horse DNA.
“We want to reassure you from the testing we have completed that all Birds Eye Beef Burgers, Beef Pies and Traditional Beef Dinners do not contain horse DNA” –Birds Eye becomes the latest to withdraw ready meals as a precaution over potential horsemeat contamination.
“As everyday commerce moves from local to international suppliers, advanced due diligence before you start working with anyone is a must” – Zolfo Cooper’s forensic litigation director Paul Huck says the first step in tightening security down the supply chain is to improve the quality of information available to food manufacturers.
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By GlobalData“We need tough penalties. It needs to be expensive to do stuff like this and the name of the companies should be published” – German Christian Democrat MEP Renate Sommer demanded severe punishments for food manufacturers found guilty of mislabelling horsemeat as beef.
“We were born producing seasonal products, but in the last ten years we’ve been investing a lot in trying to diversify our business and expand into everyday items” – Michele Bauli, co-founder of Italian cake maker Bauli says its acquisition of Bistefani will alllow it to sell more everyday items than seasonal items.
“This is the first major investment that has taken place in Europe really since Aryzta was created, practically all of the investment to date has been in North America” – An Aryzta spokesperson admits the company had, since its formation in 2008, made most of its investment in North America, following its deal to buy privately-owned German baker Klemme.
“We believe the underlying health of the Walmart US business is sound and sales trends are similar to what we’ve demonstrated in the last few quarters” – Bill Simon, Wal-Mart US president and CEO on the retailer’s full-year results.
“We are considering introducing the premium Italian food concepts in some relevant markets such as the US, France and Spain” – Ebro Foods CEO Antonio Hernandez Callejas says its deal to buy riso Scotti will allow Ebro to introduce Riso Scotti’s products to new markets.
