Ingredients company RFI Ingredients, a supplier of natural
ingredients for the food and functional food industries, has signed
a merger agreement, effective from 1 November, with US nutritional
blends company Nat-Trop. The move looks...
After months of deliberation and cogitation, Orgny-Naples, a
consortium of beet growers' co-operatives, on Friday said it had
finally reached an agreement with Edison to acquire the Italian
energy company's 53.8 per cent...
Spain's Ebro Puleva group has posted a 2.5 per cent rise in net
profits for the first nine months of the year, but has warned that
the impact of its Chilean unit will push down both sales and
profits for the full year.
Italian energy company Edison and the French consortium bidding to
buy its majority stake in sugar maker Beghin-Say said on Wednesday
that the price was likely to be reviewed on the imminent deal.
French cheesemaker Bongrain sees sales drop 4.4 per cent in the
nine months to the end of September, but stresses that cheese sales
began to recover in the third quarter, auguring well for the rest
of the year.
Sweden's Skane Dairy group has reported a steady increase in
profits for the first half of the year, helped by good sales of its
ProViva functional juice drink.
Food ingredients company Opta Food Ingredients this week boasted a
healthy 24 per cent increase in revenue for the third quarter with
the demand for fibre products largely fuelling the growth and
catapulting the company into the black.
French food and drink producer Danone highlights its positive
like-for-like sales growth in the year to date, even though sales
in actual terms were lower than in 2001 as a result of exchange
rate concerns.
Dairy Crest had long been tipped as the leading candidate to
acquire the St Ivel spreads business from Uniq, a rumour which has
now been confirmed by the two UK groups.
A spokeswoman for Russian dairy and fruit juice group
Wimm-Bill-Dann reports that France's Danone recently increased its
stake in the company. An indication that WBD's policy of rapid
expansion is the right way to go?
A return to stability in Argentina and new acquisitions in Poland,
combined with a general upturn in international markets, should
help French cheese group Bongrain return to growth in the second
half.
A huge debt burden and eroding margins in the Swiss dairy sector
have forced the country's number two dairy group Swiss Dairy Foods
to call in the receivers.
Dutch life science company DSM, together with Agennix, a US
developer of recombinant human lactoferrin, has opened a new
manufacturing facility on DSM's fermentation site in Capua, Italy.
Britain's biggest dairy products firm Dairy Crest group is poised
to buy St Ivel spreads from Uniq for £50-60 million pounds (€79-95
million), to rival UK market leader Unilever, industry sources said
on Thursday.
Britain's Dairy Crest could be on the verge of adding Uniq's St
Ivel spreads business to its portfolio, a move which would allow
the dairy products group to rival Unilever in the spreads market.
Shrugging off difficult economic conditions in a number of markets,
Italian dairy group Parmalat has reported solid, if hardly
spectacular, results for the first half of the year.
Expanding away from its traditional Moscow heartland has helped
increase sales and volumes at dairy product and fruit juice maker
Wimm-Bill-Dann - but the cost of this programme took its toll on
first half profits.
Exposure to volatile international dairy markets impacted the dairy
ingredients business at Ireland's Glanbia in the first half, but
improved performances from consumer food products helped redress
the balance.
Danish oils and fats company Aarhus Oliefabrik on Thursday reported
a drop in operating income to DKK93m (€12.5m) for the first six
months of 2002, down from DKK 125m (€16.8m) for the same period
last year, but despite this the company...
Danish enzyme company Novozymes claimed this week that research
into local crops in Brazil as a source of inexpensive and
nutritious food is part of a cooperation agreement between
Novozymes Latin America and Tecpar, the institute...
Australian yeast and natural ingredients company Burns Philp this
week reported a healthy 65 per cent jump in net profit to A$146.2
million (€80m) for the fiscal year ended 30 June 2002, despite a
drop of 2.1 per cent in sales to...
Japanese company Yakult Honsha, maker of the probiotic drink, saw
its shares plummet today following a report that it had paid off a
suspected racketeer.
Shares in functional drink giant Yakult Honsha on Monday dropped
sharply after a local weekend report that the Japanese beverage
maker had paid off a suspected racketeer, reports Dow Jones.
Indian food processor Heritage Foods, involved in the business of
milk and milk products, is to set up four more milk procurement and
processing centres during the current fiscal year.
Italian energy company Edison and a consortium of sugar beet
producers said on Friday that they had, once again, agreed to
extend exclusive talks on the sale of Edison's 54 per cent stake in
French sugar company Beghin-Say, to...
Leading US flavour company International Flavors & Fragrances
(IFF) this week reported an increase in sales for the second
quarter 2002 with figures exceeding previously announced
expectations. In Europe strong fragrances sales...
Russian juice and yoghurt maker Wimm-Bill-Dann has announced the
acquisition of 75 per cent of Kharkovsky Dairy Plant in Ukraine for
$4.5 million (€4.55m).
Express Dairies went some way towards lightening its crushing debt
load yesterday, when it sold its UHT milk and Frome Creamery
businesses to Milk Link and announced a strategic alliance and
joint venture with the farmers' co-operative.
Swiss food group Nestlé this week announced that it has entered
into an agreement to combine Nestlé's US ice cream business with US
ice cream giant Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream.
French food giant Danone is believed to be interested in St Ivel,
the yoghurts division of the UK food group Uniq (formerly Unigate),
reports French financial paper Les Echos.
A number of recent acquisitions by Irish food ingredients, flavours
and consumer foods group Kerry will help the group post 2002
results in line with market expectations.
Robertet, the French flavours and fragrances group, has seen a
sharp rise in its share price this year helped by renewed interest
in the sector due to a number of high profile transactions. The
company's chairman Philippe Maubert...
Japan's scandal-ridden Snow Brand Milk Productshas unveiled a
revival plan including financial aid and job cuts as it aims to
stay afloat after posting another record loss in the latest
business year.
Shares in Japan's scandal-ridden Snow Brand Milk Products Co soared
more than 11 per cent on Tuesday after investors saw signs of a
practical revival plan
UK milk processor Robert Wiseman Dairies has reported a decline in
pre-tax profit after losses and costs associated with
reorganisation and an inquiry by Britain's Office of Fair Trading.
An attempt by a food ingredients billionaire to take over New
Zealand's second biggest dairy company could head into difficulties
if a farmers' collective wins the day, reports local New Zealand
paper The Evening Post.
A New Zealand entrepreneur, the main shareholder in Australian food
ingredients firm Burns Philp, announced a takeover bid on Friday
for dairy products company New Zealand Dairy Foods.
The next episode in the saga of Snow Brand Milk Products, the
Japanese company hit by food safety scandals, unfurled yesterday
when the company announced that it is to tie up with two
agricultural cooperatives and request a capital...
Anglo-Dutch food company Unilever this week reported faster growth
in the leading brands, strong expansion of operating margin and
strong progress for the fourth quarter of 2001.
Shares in Japan's scandal-racked Snow Brand Milk Products Co soared
in Tuesday trade after a weekend report that the company might form
an alliance with three domestic dairy operators.
The Australian Commerce Commission has received an application from
one of Australia's largest food companies, National Foods, to
acquire up to 100 per cent of the issued shares of New Zealand
Dairy Foods (NZDF).
Russia's leading dairy products and fruit juices company is set to
launch an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in
the next few weeks.
