The much-awaited campylobacter tests on supermarket chicken in the UK were published this week. On the mergers and acquisitions side, Abraaj raised its bid yet again for Bisco Misr. Conversely, Danone was reported to be mulling a sale of its shares in the Yakult business and Kerry Group was reportedly looking to offload its frozen ready-meals arm in the UK. Meanwhile, Ireland’s Greencore published some strong annual results. Here is the week in quotes.
“There is no silver bullet to tackle this issue, but along with other retailers, we’re working hard to find a solution” – A spokesperson for Asda after it was named as having the highest rate of campylobacter-contaminated chicken. In total, The UK’s Food Standards Agency has revealed more than 70% of fresh chickens being sold in UK supermarkets are contaminated with campylobacter.
Go deeper with GlobalData
“We believe this is the highest settlement of a food safety class action in Australia’s history, and it reinforces how important it is for people to have access to a mechanism that can help remedy a mass wrong, and in the process, place a check on corporate conduct” – Jacob Varghese, class action principal, at law firm Maurice Blackburn comments on a A$25m settlement won against the manufacturer, exporter and distributor of soy milk Bonsoy after 500 people joined a class action, on concerns being raised of health implications of the product.
“It’s difficult to support so many brands. We are working on reducing the number of brands to also reduce our marketing spend.” – Indian biscuit maker Parle’s general manager, Pravin Kulkarni, tells just-food the group is looking at trimming its portfolio and anticipates a reduction of 50 to 20 brands by the end of March.
“Kellogg’s proposal would primarily benefit Kellogg more than it might Bisco Misr. It would use Bisco Misr’s vehicle for entry into Egypt and potentially the rest of the Middle East. Kellogg has minimal presence in the region, it doesn’t have an established distribution network or the knowledge of the country” – Euromonitor analyst Pinar Hosafci tells just-food she believes a takeover by private-equity firm Abraaj would be more beneficial to Bisco Misr as the takeover battle intensifies.
“They have the expertise in production, in food safety, they know the logistics there and, what’s really important, is competition there is pretty low” – Alain Oberhuber, an analyst covering Danone for Swiss investment bank MainFirst says if Danone sells its shares in Yakult, it should look to using the proceeds to expand its fresh dairy business in Africa.
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalData“We are considering a potential exit from operations in Vietnam, early in fiscal 2015, which have been part of a larger joint venture in the region. This business, which includes hog production, feed mills, and a processed meats facility, all located in Vietnam, has not delivered the results we expect from our international investments” – Hormel Foods tells just-food it is mulling its exit from Vietnam.
“This tension between balancing two risks is one of our key ongoing board discussions. Nobody doubts the market opportunity or that our strategy is right, but it is around how we balance the pace of delivery of that… the principle competitors that Greencore will have in the food-to-go space are people who aren’t already in the market as opposed to the incumbents” – Patrick Coveney elaborates on Greencore’s plan to increase the capacity of its US food-to-go business as it announced it is opening its first production facility on the west coast.
“Because we are committed to truthful, responsible and clear marketing we’re disappointed by the recent ASA ruling on the Oreo vlogger videos” – Mondelez International responds to the ASA’s ruling that its Youtube ads breached advertising code since they were not “obviously identifiable” as marketing communications.
“The supermarkets are going through the bloodiest price war in nearly two decades and are using food producers as the cannon fodder” – Duncan Swift, a partner at accountancy firm Moore Stephens, shares his thoughts as food producer insolvencies in the UK grow.
“It’s a low margin business and it does make sense that Kerry would sell it to concentrate on its branded chilled business, such as Wall’s – so the latter would not be for sale” – Goodbody Stockbrokers analyst Liam Igoe believes a sale of Kerry Group’s frozen food division would be the right move.
