M&A was certainly on the agenda this week as Norwegian conglomerate Orkla announced a deal to buy local food group Rieber & Søn. In addition, Hain Celestial purchased Premier Foods plc’s spreads asset, and Greencore acquired the UK own-label chilled ready meals unit of Hain. Here is a selection of quotes from this week’s news.
“It has come at a very steep price. Then again, with branded consumer goods companies, you have to pay up” – Danske Markets Equities analyst Martin Stenshall believes despite the price Orkla has paid for Rieber & Søn, it looks to be worth it.
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“A lot of it has been driven by meal deals. We’ve seen growth at the low end of the market and at the premium end” – a spokesperson for Greencore said the UK ready-meals sector was growing at 9.2% after the company bought International Cuisine Limited.
“Things go up and down. Rieber & Søn is a strong company. Even though the figures haven’t been as good as we could have wished in recent years, Rieber & Søn still has very good, strong positions” – Orkla CEO Åge Korsvold talks about how Orkla could improve Rieber & Søn’s performance.
“In the developing world, the chocolate majors first have to build a mainstream segment before Lindt can really enter” – Kepler analyst Jon Cox believes Lindt’s drive into emerging markets is likely to remain limited in the short- to mid-term.
“Our team is working on more or less the recovery of some of the elements we have seen decline in the second quarter and margins is one of those” – Ahold CEO Dick Boer says the company is working on improvements in the second half.
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By GlobalData“We have taken stricter actions which are all consistent with our plans” – Delhaize CEO Pierre-Olivier Beckers says the company has proposed “a stronger focus on cash flow” this year.
“The new management team needs time to deliver on its objectives, and only one year has elapsed since the operational transformation” – Natalya Kolupaeva, senior analyst at Raiffeisenbank believes various X5 initiatives could see the firm improving its sales and profitability in the coming year.
“To suggest that Ocado can become a mainstream player is almost suicidal” – Shore Capital analyst Clive Black discusses Ocado’s new pricing offensive against Tesco.
“At the end of the day, the consumer must bear the increased costs” – Cloetta chief executive Bengt Baron says Cloetta will continue to look to pass on its higher costs.
“People often choose cereal bars in the belief they’re healthier than chocolate or biscuits but our research shows this can be a myth” – Which? executive director Richard Lloyd discusses a report on the image of cereal bars as a healthy snack.
