German-based ingredients firm Nutrinova has announced a
double-digit price hike for its sorbate range of additives, used
increasingly by global food developers to preserve food products
such as confectionery and baked goods.
Despite a warning in April that raw materials and currency would
have an impact on second half earnings, the UK ingredients firm
Associated British Foods, which in July laid down €1 billion for
leading yeast supplier Burns Philp,...
The meteoric rise of Inter Link Foods continues as the company
confirmed its status as Britain's thrid biggest cake-maker by
announcing another sales increase since April.
In a move to focus on its retail business, Swiss baking aid firm
Hero has sold UK bakery ingredients division Renshaw Scott to UK
sugar ingredients company Napier Brown Foods.
Swedish oils and fats firm Karlshamns, which saw its profits slip
at the end of 2003, has acquired UK flaked fats company Kelanco,
and with it a drive into value-added speciality fats for the
booming UK convenience food market.
First half sales at Aarhus United fell 3 per cent, eroded by price
competition in bulk oils, but improved volumes, particularly in
Mexico, and reduced costs helped it generate solid operating
profits.
Krispy Kreme is fast becoming the lame duck of the New York Stock
Exchange as investors desert the US maker of doughnuts amid
concerns over the rising levels of obesity, writes Sibonelo
Radebe. And the company appears to have little...
Ongoing demand for healthy products helped Irish food and
ingredients firm Kerry to a strong first half performance. And with
recent acquisitions pushing it into other high growth sectors,
there is little to stop the group from making...
CSM, the Dutch food ingredients company, is considering the sale of
its sugar confectionery unit in order to concentrate on its core
bakery supplies and sugar operations - despite a very poor
performance from the bakery unit in the...
Interstate Bakeries Corporation (IBC) has continued its
cost-cutting programme with the closure of yet another bakery, in
Buffalo, New York. The closure, which will take place in October,
will see the loss of 200 jobs but will help...
Another $100 million has been thrown into the beleaguered US bakery
wholesaler, Interstate Bakery Corporation (IBC) in what appears to
be a final desperate move to keep the group afloat, writes
Sibonelo Radebe.
Cirio, the Italian food group which went bankrupt in 2002, has
reached an agreement to sell its industrial bakery unit to a
family-owned group, a further step on the road to recovery.
US cereals and snacks group Kellogg is to centralise its European
operations in a new office in Ireland, giving it a major presence
in the market with the world's highest per capita consumption of
ready-to-eat cereals, writes...
Faced with capacity problems due to growing business over recent
years Danish emulsifier supplier Palsgaard has poured €10 million
into expanding its emulsifier facilities in Denmark.
Cost-cutting measures are paying off for the world's largest
fragrance and flavour company with Givaudan pulling in a
double-digit growth in profit for the first half of 2004.
Enodis, the world's largest manufacturer of commercial foodservice
equipment such as ovens and mixers, reported better profits but
slightly worse sales due to the weak dollar, increased steel prices
and difficult UK and continental...
Despite a squeeze on ingredients prices and global volatility in
key commodities, adept risk management tools help agri-giant
Cargill deliver a strong performance for the year, with sales in
the last quarter rising by a considerable...
With all the new health consciousness and fast lifestyles, a
significant portion of UK consumers still find a slot for a good
sandwich bite or cake indulgence to the satisfaction of high street
bakery chain, Greggs.
UK group Bakery Services is being increasingly hamstrung by a
business model which means that more than 80 per cent of its
revenue is exposed to the changing strategy of a single chain store
group hosting its bakery operations, writes...
Hurt by rising operating costs and a shift in consumer taste
against traditional white flour based products, Canadian food giant
George Weston has embarked on a search for better margins in
premium bakery products.
Just 10 days after agreeing to sell its Irish Biscuits unit to
Britain's United Biscuits, French group Danone has changed its mind
and sold the business to local player Fruitfield Foods instead -
neatly avoiding a potentially...
The latest figures from Kellogg suggest that the US-based cereal
and snacks group has weathered the low-carb dieting storm with
relative ease, helped by a combination of new product launches and
increased advertising expenditure,...
Marketing and sales strategy pays off for UK-based firm Muntons
Malted Ingredients (MMI) with turnover increasing more than three
times in as many years.
France's Danone Group continues to see lower returns from its
biscuit business, haunted by rising raw materials costs, changing
consumer appetites and increased competition. But will the sale of
the Jacob's British and Irish...
Increasingly health conscious US consumers chose to bypass the
snack packs of food giant Kraft in the second quarter, a trend
which weighed heavily on profits at the country's biggest food
maker. But a major marketing push highlighting...
Dutch supplier of palm oil-sourced food products Loders Croklaan
has consolidated its position in the growing palm ingredients
market, agreeing this week to buy Malaysian palm oil specialities
company Soctek.
With impending sugar reform set to slash the bottom line for the
owner of British Sugar, UK food and ingredient group Associated
British Foods, the company is driving further into the ingredients
business with the decision to buy...
A number of the leading players from the bakery sectors in the
Baltic States have announced strong first half results in the past
week. The results for Latvia's Hanzas Maisnica, together with
Lithuanian players Vilniaus Duona...
Inter Link Foods has grown rapidly to become Britain's number three
cake maker, helped by canny acquisitions and lucrative licensing
deals. The challenge now is to push into new areas of growth, such
as healthy cakes, and mount...
As food makers continue to roll out new low carb food products to
meet the rise in demand from consumers, starch supplier MGP
Ingredients has agreed to link up with agri-giant Cargill to push a
new resistant starch product aimed at...
Danish bread and cake firm Hatting has expanded into the growing
Russian market, investing millions of euros at a new production
facility in the Moscow area.
RHM, the British company behind some of the country's best-known
brands of bread and cake, could be floated on the stock market
sometime next year, valuing the company at around £1 billion,
according to press reports.
Flowers Foods, the US baked goods producer, is to buy the
Houston-based bread and bun production facilities of compatriot
Sara Lee, including the rights to supply own label and foodservice
customers in the local market.
Eager to protect a burgeoning market in value-added ingredients
wheat protein supplier MGP Ingredients has filed a case against
rival ingredients supplier Manildra Milling corporation.
Nestlé Romania has confirmed that it is to invest a further €3.5
million in its factory in Timisoara, as the company reaffirms its
ambitions to dominate the all-important wafer market in the region.
The demand for ingredients that lift fibre levels and reduce
carbohydrate quantities has been a major boost for textured wheat
protein supplier MGP Ingredients, recently announcing plans to
expand production capacity, writes Lindsey...
Sending a ripple of fear through the food industry, in 2002 the
Swedish Food Administration found high levels of the cancer-causing
compound acrylamide in carbohydrate-rich foods heated to high
temperatures. As global efforts in food...
Swiss baked goods group Hiestand has reported strong increases in
both pre-tax and net profits for 2003 on the back of a double-digit
increase in sales, the first results from a new restructuring
programme designed to make the company...
Vilniaus Duona Plius, the leading bakery group in Lithuania, has
been cleared to buy compatriot Panevezio Duona by the country's
competition authorities, giving the Finnish-owned group complete
control of the company. Meanwhile,...
Flavours and extracts firm Frutarom has gained the worldwide
marketing rights to a range of natural antioxidants made by
Israel's RAD Natural Technologies, boosting its offering to health
and functional food makers.
US colours and flavours group Sensient continues to feel the impact
of soft markets in North American food and beverage segments,
particularly synthetic colours, posting a further drop in income
for the first quarter of 2004. Pressure...
Sugar giant British Sugar helped boost six month results for its
parent, food and ingredients firm Associated British Foods, which
this week reported double-digit growth in profits. But
international agency Oxfam has criticised the...
Number one flavours and fragrance firm Givaudan ambles along in the
first quarter with higher sales in flavours offsetting a drop in
the fragrance division, suggesting that strategies to boost profit
announced back in January this...
Intensified competition in the ingredients marketplace and
disappointing orders for Cocoa Butter Equivalents (CBE) following
the new chocolate rules leads to job losses at Danish fats and oils
firm Aarhus United.
After repeated warnings that the spiralling cost of raw materials
would impact profits this year, US-based breakfast cereal producer
Kellogg yesterday said that it had got off to a
better-than-expected start to the year and forecast...
Global chocolate supplier Barry Callebaut said that recent
acquisitions had boosted its six month figures, with net profit
showing double-digit growth. But low cocoa prices affected
activities at the processing arm of the company.
Natural colours UK firm Overseal Foods is set to carve a deeper
position in the US market, signing a new distribution deal with US
company RFI Ingredients and meeting growing demand for natural
colouring foodstuffs, writes Lindsey...
Rathbones Bakeries, one of the leading suppliers of own label bread
and baked goods to the UK retail trade, has been sold by Greencore,
the Irish food group which is keen to focus on building its
convenience food operations.
