This week, Cloetta announced the appointment of new CEO, David Nuutinen. In the UK, The Fabulous Bakin' Boys announced a rebrand and a focus on healthier ingredients. Elsewhere, ConAgra announced the acquisition of Blake's All Natural Foods. We also published the second-part of our just-food interview with Wessanen CFO, Ronald Merckx who talked about the company's acquisition ambitions. Here is the week in quotes
"We have a significant war-chest available to do acquisitions. We are very busy looking at targets and trying to fill the M&A pipeline," he says. "We've done one deal with Abafoods in Q1. We will want to do a number of things in the next 12-18 months to use the cash and grow the company on top of the autonomous growth that we're seeing" – Ronald Merckx, CFO of Wessanen, says the company is looking to make further acquisitions and has the financial firepower.
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"For the category, our national brand fills a void in the dairy industry" – Dean Foods CEO Gregg Tanner believes the US milk supplier's DairyPure brand is something the market needs.
"Blake’s is a great addition to our existing frozen meals business and provides more choices to a growing group of people buying natural and organic foods. ConAgra Foods will help Blake’s grow and offer its wholesome food to more people across the country" – ConAgra CEO Sean Connolly on the company's latest acquisition in the natural-foods space of Blake's All Natural Foods
"The UK branded baked goods category is currently confectionery hiding in sheep’s clothing, often pretending to be natural when the products are full of artificial preservatives, stabilisers, inverted glucose syrups and unnecessary e-numbers. In 2015, families deserve more" – Richard Cooper, CEO of The Fabulous Bakers, on the company's rebranding ahead of a marketing push that will see it focus on its natural ingredients.
"Vegetarian and vegan food is an exciting, rapidly growing category, and this is an investment entirely in line with Orkla Foods Sverige’s strategic focus on health" – Patrik Andersson, CEO of Orkla Foods' Swedish arm confirms the acquisition of Swedish frozen vegan food maker Anamma Foods.
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By GlobalData"After six exciting and intense years, I feel it is a good time to move on. I am really proud of what Cloetta, as an organisation, has achieved during this period. My decision is also made easier as I am handing over the responsibility into David Nuutinen’s capable hands" – Cloetta CEO Bengt Baron announces he is resigning from the post with CEO of Cloetta's Finnish business, David Nuutinen, set to takeover.
"Organic, although in its infancy is picking up momentum, driven in part by food safety and in part by general health / wellness concerns. In general, trends like this can quickly spread in China, as many consumers are ready to embrace what is good for them, and, at least in developed urban areas, affordability no longer creates barriers" – Demand for products with a health and wellness message is gaining steam in China says Torsten Stocker, partner at AT Kearney.
"Foodservice products such as cheese give a high value on return and, thanks to our strength in research and development, we’re able to cut months off the production time of this mozzarella to deliver on our velocity proposition. The additional capacity will bring volume to that equation" – Robert Spurway, MD of Fonterra's global operations on the company opening up its Clandboye mozzarella plant for production.
"The joint venture with Saigon Ve Wong and the construction of the plant are important steps for KDC in preparing its internal capacity to penetrate further into the essential food industry, especially after the initial success of the Dai Gia Dinh brand of instant noodles" – Kinh Do CEO Tran Le Nguyen comments on the company's latest tie-up with Vietnam's Kinh Do, which will see them build an instant noodle plant in the country.
