Oversupply of sugar in the EU and higher energy costs combine to
knock profits for the year at British Sugar, its owner Associated
British Foods warned today.
Food giant Kraft Foods, the maker of Maxwell House coffee and
Nabisco cookies, will push funds behind 'fewer, bigger and better
new product ideas' to fuel sustainable growth.
Cash, cash, cash. Castigated as simple asset-strippers out to make
a quick buck, the entrance of private equity onto the food industry
stage has participants chattering in the wings.
The state of California is suing nine top food manufacturers over
their reluctance to issue warnings that some popular snacks could
contain a potential cancer-causing chemical.
Allied Starch & Chemical (ASC) has acquired Californian-based
firm Ingredients Unlimited as part of its plan to capitalize on the
lucrative North American tortilla market.
Strenghtening supply chain number one enzyme supplier Novozymes
will consolidate its numerous distributor agreements in Europe
under one firm, ingredients and additive distributor Fiske.
German-based ingredients firm Nutrinova passes raw material and
energy price rises onto the market, announcing double-digit price
hike for its sorbate products, used increasingly by food
manufacturers to preserve baked goods.
Hazelnut prices remain at all time highs but the imminent crop from
key producer Turkey could offer some stability to snack makers and
confectioners impacted by the record highs.
Leading Dutch lactic acid supplier is believed to be in discussions
to expand its presence in the East with plans to build an acid
plant in Thailand that uses sugar as a raw material.
International consumer goods maker Sara Lee has confirmed that it
is selling its direct sales cosmetics business to Tupperware for
$577 million. The move forms part of the company's bid to redefine
its over-stretched product...
US private equity group Apax last week announced its plans to
expand into the Spanish bakery market, after signing an agreement
to purchase Spanish bakery Panrico.
Dairy producer Arla Foods, which supplies butter to a number of
bakeries, has sent out one of the first signals that the dairy
sector is hurting from a reduction in EU agricultural export
subsidies.
Greggs Plc, the UK bakery business that has stood out as a growth
success story in a sector cramped by obesity concerns, last week
unveiled first-half results that suggest it may be running out of
steam in selling ever more bread...
Major cost-cutting at US-based Sara Lee boosted operating profits
at its bakery division by 36 per cent over 2005 but sales were down
on the previous year after a 53rd week in 2004 swelled turnover.
UK biscuit maker McVitie's is to cut 33 jobs at its Carlisle
factory, after damage caused by floods in January permanently
disabled four production lines, reducing the plant's total output
by 20 per cent.
Business is looking bleak for Atkins Nutritionals. As the
once-celebrated pioneer of a diet regime that took the world by
storm files for bankruptcy protection, Jess Halliday asks:
What went wrong?
Tate & Lyle has vowed to continue to pursue its ambitious
expansion plans despite warnings that proposed changes to the sugar
regime could begin to affect business as soon as 2007, writes
Anthony Fletcher.
In a move to secure its supplier base for its bakery operations and
expand its business, the UK's Real Good Food Company (RGFC) said
yesterday it would buy Napier Brown Foods, a sugar group, for
£67.7min stock.
Number one food enzyme supplier Novozymes likely to move production
to the US and China as a result of the new EU sugar reform, the
daily Berlingske Tidende reports.
UK functional food company Provexis says a growing pipeline of
functional food products will change its fortunes, as it reports
growing losses from its Altu healthy cereal bar.
Job losses at the sweetener operations of ambitious ingredients
firm Cargill are imminent as the largest private firm in the US
appears to feel the squeeze of "market conditions".
The latest in a series of serious accidents in UK bakeries resulted
in the death of a worker at an Allied Bakeries plant in Glasgow
last week, writes Lorraine Heller.
Private equity moves deeper into food ingredients industry, with
European equity provider ABN AMRO Capital buying up ingredients
distributor IMCD from AlpInvest Partners, reports Lindsey
Partos.
CSM Bakery Supplies North America plans to close three production
sites and to restructure a further two facilities, the Dutch
ingredients firm announced today.
Dutch food and pharma group DSM completes the last step in shedding
its bakery portfolio, selling its stake in the South African yeast
products manufacturer Rymco,writes Lindsey Partos.
Another UK bakery faced a heavy fine this week after neglecting to
ensure a safe working environment, leading to a worker losing his
arm in an accident with a dough milling machine, wrties Lorraine
Heller.
Squeezed by tight margins owing to high raw material costs and a
powerful retail sector reluctant to pass on price increases,
players across the bakery sector are striving to find different
solutions in order to sustain, rebuild and...
Dutch bakery ingredients giant has reduced its long-term debt by
€145m, the company announced today, as part of its strategy to
improve its balance sheet.
Dutch bakery ingredients firm CSM marches forward in its
restructuring programme, announcing today that its next target for
change will be subsidiary Purac Nederland.
A Californian environmental group has threatened to sue food
manufacturers unless they place acrylamide warning labels on
certain products, writes Anthony Fletcher.
Dutch bakery ingredients leader CSM continues to slash
non-profitable activities, announcing yesterday that it will close
its BakeMark sales office in Finland as part of its restructuring
of the Bakery Supplies activities in the Nordic...
Northern Foods, one of the UK's leading suppliers to Marks &
Spencer, yesterday announced a sharp fall in annual profits after a
year of tough restructuring.
Injuries at bakeries will be a major focus for 2005/6, says the
UK's industry inspection body, yet the unions believe there is even
less funding this year to implement health and safety regulations,
writes Lorraine Heller.
A lawsuit has been launched against ingredients giant Corn Products
International, alleging that one or more of its directors violated
federal securities laws by issuing false and misleading statements
to the market.
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's plans to place a tax on fast food
has been dismissed as a cosmetic exercise to help cover the city's
budget deficit, writes Anthony Fletcher.
Functional flavours and ingredients manufacturer Danisco, one of
Europe's largest sugar suppliers, is to cease the processing of
sugar beet at one of its sites in Lithuania, Tom Armitage
reports.
Rising ingredients prices dampened a strong first quarter sales
increase for Domino's Pizza, the world's biggest pizza delivery
firm, yet health may be the industry's biggest challenge in 2005,
reports Chris Mercer.
Tough new labelling regulations concerning allergens may be driving
up the number of product recalls by UK's food producers, warns food
safety consultancy RSSL.
Kraft Foods is helping to finance a seat at the Monell Chemical
Senses Center, which should help scientists - and food companies -
to learn more about the intensity and quality of flavors.
The owners of Britain's RHM, Doughty Hanson, have begun preparing
the food group for a stock market flotation later this year after
implementing pension reforms and cutting away dead wood, says a
report in the UK's Financial...
Kellogg has increased sales and profits in its first quarter
through clever pricing and strong marketing investment, helping the
firm to forge ahead in healthy snacks and beat off private label
competition in cereals, reports Chris...
Food enzymes contribute a quarter of sales revenue to the overall
enzyme business in the first quarter, says Danish firm Novozymes,
marking a one per cent rise in contribution on the previous year,
writes Lindsey Partos.