Following last week’s shock news of Kraft Foods’ spin off, corporate restructuring and M&A remained the theme, with Sara Lee agreeing to sell its North American refrigerated dough business to Ralcorp Holdings and announcing plans to sell its French and Spanish bakery divisions. Irish food company Valeo Foods Group struck a deal to buy local rival Jacob Fruitfield Food Group and Symington’s acquired two food brands from Unilever. Here’s the best of what was said this week:
“We have had a lot of interest” – Sara Lee chairman Jan Bennink reveals plans to sell the company’s French and Spanish bakery operations after the company entered an agreement earlier in the week to sell its North American refrigerated dough business to Ralcorp.
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“Valeo was set up a year ago and they are on the record as indicating that they wanted to lead consolidation in the Irish food sector, and this deal is very consistent with that strategy” – a Valeo spokesperson explains the rationale behind its acquisition of the Jacob Fruitfield Food Group.
“The Unilever acquisition is a significant step for our business and we are delighted to have completed the deal” – Symington’s chief executive David Salkeld on the company’s acquisition of the Chicken Tonight and Ragu brands in the UK and Ireland from Unilever.
“The real differentiating highlight of the first half of 2011 is that Nestle has not only delivered where you would expect us to deliver but we have also delivered against the odds as our businesses have demonstrated our ability to perform in the toughest of times”- Nestle CFO James Singh on the company’s results as the manufacturer reported a 12.9% fall in first-half sales.
“As in all industries there might have been a few black sheep misleading the consumer with promising health claims that were not substantiated, but today it looks like the whole industry is a flock of black sheep, which definitely is not the case” – Beneo spokesperson Claudia Meissner criticised a report released by the European Food Safety Authority which said that 80% of health claims made by manufacturers are wrong or unproven.
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By GlobalData“Targeting local shops as an expression of anger and frustration is mindless. These criminal acts destroy community resources, hurting local businesses and threatening people’s jobs. Staff are being intimidated and traumatised. Those responsible must be prosecuted and punished. Retailers and their staff are particularly vulnerable and need protecting” – BRC director general Stephen Robertson on the impacts of the UK riots.
“We remain firmly committed to maintaining our manufacturing base in Australia and by proactively restructuring the SPC Ardmona business we believe we can lower its cost base to help regain its competitive position in the market place” – Coca-Cola Amatil managing director Terry Davis remains optimistic that the company can turn around its SPC Ardmona business following the closure of a plant in Australia.
“We have always said we did not collude on prices on cheese and we stand firm in our rebuttal of these ongoing allegations. We will continue to defend our position vigorously, through the courts if necessary.” – Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Tesco’s director of corporate and legal affairs, speaks out against the UK Office of Fair Trading’s GBP10m fine over fixing the price of cheese.
“This was caused by a technical error as our Scottish stores are being moved to a new pricing software system.” – Tesco blames a discrepency in pricing structures between Scotland and elsewhere in the UK on a technical error.
