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Nolet Distillery Eyes New Markets For Ketel One (Americas Food and Drink Insight)

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00 GMT

Nolet Distillery is to launch its premium Ketel One vodka brand in 15 new markets, including Brazil and Australia, by the end of June 2010. The news was announced by the vice president of the company, which is a joint 50-50 joint venture between Diageo and the Dutch Nolet family. A launch in Brazil will be interesting to watch, as the brand sits at the super-premium end of the price spectrum and the business has up until now had little exposure in emerging markets. The move is indicative of the strength of the spirits category in Brazil, where a large

Nolet Distillery Eyes New Markets For Ketel One (Americas Food and Drink Insight)

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00 GMT

Podravka Foreign Markets Outperforming (Emerging Europe Food and Drink Insight)

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00 GMT

Sales revenue for Croatia-based food, beverage and pharmaceutical giant Podravka's foreign markets outperformed in the first nine months of 2009, up 1% year-on-year (y-o-y) to HRK2.66bn (US$543mn). Domestic sales fell 3% to HRK1.4bn as economic weakness continued to affect consumers. Against the backdrop of a forecast 3.2% GDP contraction in 2009, we expect food consumption in Croatia to fall 1.6% y-o-y to HRK12.47bn, before steadily recovering in 2010.

Nestlé Chief Says Firm Was Slow To React To Price Cuts (Western Europe Food and Drink Insight)

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00 GMT

Nestlé CEO Paul Bulke has said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that he believes the group was slow to react to aggressive pricing by competitors. Bulke stated that the firm should have 'engaged faster to counter these actions not just with pricing, but in being sharper in identifying the danger of it'. Rivals' price-cutting strategies contributed to Nestlé's third quarter results, when organic sales growth slowed to 3.6%, well below its long-term guidance of 5-6%. However, Bulke also suggested that the worst thing to do in a downturn was to 'start to react to short-term pressures and

Mercator Strengthens Stake In Emerging Balkan Subsidiary (Emerging Europe Food and Drink Insight)

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00 GMT

The Balkan focused Slovenian mass grocery retailer (MGR) Mercator has acquired an additional 30% of its Montenegrin subsidiary Mercator-Mex to take its overall holding to 81% as it continues to firm up its presence regionally. By no means a large market - Montenegro has a population of just 0.6mn - the emerging Balkan economy serves as a useful complement to Mercator's core non-Slovenian markets of Croatia and Serbia. Although a forecast 5.8% GDP contraction in 2009 has severely dented consumer confidence and underlined the economy's sensitivity to the downturn, the underdeveloped state of Montenegro's MGR industry coupled with the relative

Core Non-RSA Illovo Unit Performs Strongly In H1 (Middle East & Africa Food and Drink Insight)

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00 GMT

Expected to take on greater importance after the EU called time on its guaranteed price scheme to African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, South Africa based Illovo Sugar's Malawian unit has posted an impressive 18% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in first half (ending September 30 2009) net income to MWK3.6bn (US$25.5mn). A subsidiary of UK-based Associated British Foods (ABF), Illovo is Africa's largest sugar producer and its wide Sub-Saharan footprint makes it particularly well placed to take advantage of the highly promising opportunities provided by the abolishment of the guaranteed price

Cott Continues To Record Turnaround (Americas Food and Drink Insight)

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00 GMT

Canadian private label soft drink specialist Cott Corp has continued to register a return to profitability in its latest financial quarter. In the three months to the end of September the firm recorded net profits of US$13.9mn, while operating profits came in at US26.9mn. This compares to a net loss of US$87.6mn in the third quarter of 2008. Net sales on a constant currency basis moved up by 1%, suggesting that this growth in net profits may be sustainable and that a long awaited turnaround may be finally on the

Strong Q3 For Tsingtao As Market Moves In Its Favour (Asia Pacific Food and Drink Insight)

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00 GMT

Chinese brewer Tsingtao Brewery has announced positive results for the third quarter. The country's second largest brewer achieved revenue growth of 8.9% to CNY5.63bn (US$824.5mn), while net profit increased by an enormous 93% to reach CNY615.2mn (US$90.1mn). As well as realising the effects of its internal efficiency drive, Tsingtao has benefited from an uptick in domestic demand on the back of improved economic sentiment and from deflated barley prices owing to a substantial global surplus for the 2008/09 harvest

Heineken Buys Globe Pub Assets (Western Europe Food and Drink Insight)

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00 GMT

Dutch brewer Heineken is to purchase the assets of struggling pub operator Globe Pub Company. The deal includes 421 pubs and is worth GBP180mn, money that will be used to pay off Globe's debts. As Heineken is also the firm's major creditor, the brewer has revealed that the move will be largely cash flow neutral in 2009. Heineken put itself in pole position to acquire the assets by building up its stake in the company's debt, a move motivated by Heineken's desire to safeguard its supply contract with Globe's significant pub

Hassad Food Closes Major Sudan Deal (Middle East & Africa Food and Drink Insight)

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00 GMT

Qatar's Hassad Food, an arm of the oil and gas rich state's sovereign wealth fund, has entered into a potentially-US$1bn farmland development joint venture with the government of Sudan. The deal is expected to eventually provide access to up to 250,000 acres of cultivated farmland with much of the crop yields likely to be re-exported back to the import dependent Gulf region. Hassad is also believed to be in advanced negotiations with Mozambique and South Africa.

Plans To Fuel Massive Sugar Boost (Emerging Europe Food and Drink Insight)

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00 GMT

Russia wants to boost its sugar production to 2012 by 42% in order to become more self-sufficient and reduce its import burden. The country is the world's number two sugar importer, yet believes that supply can be boosted sufficiently by 2012 to significantly close the domestic deficit. At BMI we feel that, while Russian output will post relatively robust growth of 24.33% over the current five-year projection period to 2013, self-sufficiency is still some way

Fonterra Shows Faith With Cultured Dairy Investment (Asia Pacific Food and Drink Insight)

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00 GMT

New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra has invested MYR25mn (US$7.3mn) in its Fonterra Brands Malaysia subsidiary in order to upgrade and double production at its Kuala Lumpur factory. With dairy not a traditional part of the local diet, and with consumption levels thus fairly low at present, Fonterra has identified significant opportunities for growth in the country, on the back of ongoing economic

Tata Continues Diversification Drive As Price Pressures Increase (Asia Pacific Food and Drink Insight)

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00 GMT

Indian tea giant Tata Tea Limited (TTL) has posted strong financial results for its second fiscal quarter, ending September, in spite of the pressure its margins are coming under from rising global tea prices. However, with output in many major tea-producing nations having sharply contracted due to severe droughts and with global inventories continuing to be drawn down as demand recovers, tea prices look set to remain highly inflated, putting pressure on TTL in the second half. BMI see the company's ongoing product diversification drive as vital in helping to offset this

Emerging Europe Pulls Down PepsiAmericas' Q3 Earnings (Emerging Europe Food and Drink Insight)

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00 GMT

PepsiCo's second largest anchor bottler PepsiAmericas has reported below consensus third quarter (three months to end September) earnings largely on the back of US dollar strength and tough trading conditions in the US and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Group earnings slipped 13.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) to US$63.5mn while sales dipped 15% y-o-y to US$1.13bn. Expected to be bought out by PepsiCo by the end of 2009, PepsiAmericas has a strong presence in the CEE. Contributing about a quarter of the bottler's sales revenue, consumers are still reigning in spending as the region continues to be profoundly affected by the global

Tangerine Confectionery Doubles Sales Through Monkhill Acquisition (Western Europe Food and Drink Insight)

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00 GMT

UK-based Tangerine Confectionery, which claims to be Europe's largest independent sugar confectionery manufacturer, has posted a sharp rise in turnover on the back of acquisitions. Tangerine's profits increased from GBP63.5mn in 2007 to GBP131mn to 2008 in what its managing director, Chris Marshall, called a 'transformational year'. Profits before exceptional items increased by 65% to reach GBP8.1mn. However, restructuring costs and interest payments linked to acquisitions resulted in an overall net loss of GBP3.7mn, up from a loss of GBP2.7mn in the year