Inside food & drink manufacturing
Food manufacturing and consumer goods giant Unilever has demonstrated skill in navigating choppy global waters by delivering a solid performance in its fourth quarter results to December 31, with sales up by 10.5% to €51.3bn and profits up by 7% to €4.9bn.
The multiples are letting down manufacturers and ignoring consumer trends by failing to adequately display or provide enough space for frozen foods.
The next 5-10 years will present a significant challenge for global business, with a new event promising to help business leaders navigate the ‘biggest period of global change since the industrial revolution’.
Police on both sides of the Irish border have been asked to investigate the latest twists in the horse meat scandal, while the Food Standards Agency (FSA) will publish the results of the DNA testing of meat products in a bid to boost consumer confidence.
ABP Food Group, the parent company of Silvercrest Foods – which supplied beef burgers contaminated with horse DNA to Tesco, Burger King and the Co-operative Group – has named Irish meat trader McAdam Food Service as its meat supplier.
City analyst Investec has criticised the “revolving door” at Premier Foods, after another key member of its management team left the firm this week.
Food and drink manufacturers need to pay greater attention to devising genuinely distinctive shapes for new products in order to strengthen their intellectual property (IP) rights through trademark protection.
Increasing competition from own-label, as well as more attention to consumer preferences, is helping to usher in fresh packaging innovation in herbs and spices.
Cake maker Finsbury Food Group has reported relatively flat sales for the half year to December 29, up marginally to £103.3M compared with £102M for the same period of the previous year and in-line with management expectations.
In November 2012, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) announced the start of a review of the impact of the EU on the UK or, in eurospeak, a 'review of the balance of competences' - a somewhat opaque term to which the voter in the street is unlikely...