Stories from Europe, the UK, the US and Latin America provided some of this week’s headlines. A key shareholder in Metro Group has lost patience with the German retailer’s CEO, upmarket UK grocer Marks and Spencer revealed its new-look food halls, US snack firm Diamond Foods discussed the outlook for its new financial year and PepsiCo outlined plans to launch healthier products in Mexico.
“There has been a discussion between Mr Haniel and Mr Cordes concerning his contract and Mr Haniel has told him that there is no support from the Haniel family” – a source close to the situation tells just-food that Metro Group key shareholder Haniel, the German conglomerate, wants the retailer’s CEO to leave at the end of his contract next year.
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“We’re moving into another territory – speciality for a very good price” – Marks and Spencer chief executive Marc Bolland explains that the UK retailer is setting itself apart from the country’s supermarket chains.
“You cannot underestimate the challenge of keeping things that are going well to continue to go well and that’s been a big part of our efforts in this integration process” – Diamond Foods CFO Steve Neil says the US snack group’s immediate focus with recently-acquired brand Pringles is to keep the business performing well.
“There is going to be a big investment to change ingredients” – Francisco Merino, vice president of legal and corporate affairs for PepsiCo’s Mexican unit, says the US company is looking to launch healthier snack products in the country.
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“British Sugar is a very profitable company, and despite its complaints that the sugar beet crop was hit by last winter’s bad weather, it is well able to afford a decent pay rise” – Mick Doherty, regional officer at the Unite union, insists Associated British Foods’ UK sugar arm can meet worker demands on pay.
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By GlobalData“As long as the economic insecurity in various member countries of the European community goes on, investors will continue to look for a safe haven, which means that a significant weakening of the Swiss franc is unlikely to happen in the near future” – Swiss dairy giant Emmi doubts that the country’s currency will ease in the short term.
“The last two years has seen an explosion in self service – driven by consumers with mobile devices – but now retailers are identifying that there was a lot of exuberance” – Ken Duffy, marketing manager for retail store solutions at IBM systems and technology, says retailers are re-appraising the availability of self-service systems in store.
“The big cities with economical potential like Kazan, Oufa and Tcheliabinsk are very interesting for us” – a spokesperson for Auchan outlines where the French retailer is looking to expand in Russia.
“We have a renewed focus on innovation at Campbell” – Sean Connolly, president of Campbell Soup Co.’s North American operations, says the US food group is putting more emphasis on NPD.
“We’re a bit baffled by this ruling. The farmer featured is a Tesco supplier and produces some of the pork featured in our ad. We genuinely don’t see how the ASA can say an ad showing a genuine Tesco farmer can be misleading” – The UK retailer questions a decision from the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority to ban one of its ads.
“After long and careful consideration, amid record high ingredient costs, our company has come to the conclusion that we must take these steps in order to improve our overall effectiveness” – Butterball president and CEO Rod Brennemann explains why the US turkey firm has decided to close a plant in Colorado.
