Unilever has reported a turnover of GBP9.1bnfor the fourth quarter of 2008, an increase of 3% compared to GBP8.8bn in the corresponding quarter of 2007. Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, said: "In 2008 the business made further solid progress. We achieved top line growth ahead of our target range and, faced with unprecedented input cost pressures, protected profit by early pricing action and savings programs. The changes already made over the past few years have strengthened the business and leave us well placed to meet the challenges ahead."More on this story
French food group Danone achieved a 15% rise in underlying net income last year and said it continued to expect double-digit growth in earnings per share in 2009 as it saw no dramatic drop in consumption.
Sales of drinking yoghurt are showing signs of a struggle as growth slowed down in Europe at the end of last year, according to a new market report. Out of the 29 packaged food categories tracked by US-based research firm Sanford C. Bernstein, it said 22 saw positive sales growth. However, the slowest growing category was drinking yoghurt, which was down nine per cent, followed by gum which dropped seven per cent, according to the report called “European Food: Sales growth and share gains” for December 2008.
Food group Glanbia is looking for 210 redundancies. The company had already announced 50 of these last month at its Consumer Foods division in CityWest in Dublin. A company spokeswoman said today that other cost-cutting moves at the company included a recruitment ban and a cut in the salaries of management. She said the company was taking a prudent approach in these difficult economic times.
The health secretary, Alan Johnson, has called for manufacturers and retailers to produce and stock smaller, snack-sized portions in a bid to combat obesity.
Two Belgium companies – one a bran technology specialist, the other an ingredients supplier in the bakery and confectionery area – have linked to develop bread and pastry products with digestive health benefits. Prebiotic baked products are not new but the two companies believe the technology in question will present an advantage as the prebiotic substances are activated during the baking process and don’t require additional fibres. This presents cost, formulation and gut health benefits. Prebiotics are substances that promote the growth of healthy gut flora.
The National Farmers' Union (NFU) has backed a report from the Chatham House think tank, which suggests the UK may be taking its food supplies for granted. According to the report, weaknesses in food supply - including limited research and development - throw the UK's food security into doubt and could limit the availability of items such as milk and fruit. NFU president Peter Kendall said: "This is a major political issue which has rightly received some substantial attention from government, academics and the media.
Kraft Foods has announced a dramatic fall in fourth-quarter profits. Earnings dropped by 68.5% for the past three months to GBP208m despite a spate of cost-cutting by the US-owned group. Kraft, whose brands include the Philadelphia and Dairylea cheeses, Haagen Dazs and Kenco coffee, also said like-for-like sales growth in 2009 would be behind previous predictions of 3%-4%. The announcement prompted shares in the group to fall by around 8%.
Paul Polman, the new chief executive of Unilever has reversed Unilever's previous habit of issuing profit guidance for the City raised a few eyebrows. And Unilever's share price slid sharply. Polman's explanation for the move was simple. Companies could not be expected to "predict the unpredictable" and the meltdown in the world economy has rendered calling future trading little more than an educated punt. It is hardly surprising that such a prognosis spooked analysts and investors. When the boss of the third-largest consumer goods company on the planet says he hasn't got a clue what is around the corner, you can assume the world is not operating in good order. He also scrapped sales and margin targets set by Patrick Cescau, his predecessor. But the new chief declined to replace the old metrics with new numbers. Instead, he promised to reverse an alarming shrinkage in the underlying volumes sold by the company while accelerating a programme of factory closures and job cuts. More on this story
Pressure continues on snack makers to reduce portion sizes as the UK's health secretary Alan Johnson challenges the industry to design healthy snacks in smaller portions.The health secretary met with leading business figures this morning at the first board meeting of Business4Life (b4L), an industry consortium,including Nestle and Mars, that has partnered the UK government in its Change4Life campaign that aims to encourage healthy lifestyles to curb soaring obesity figures.
Christmas trading in the grocery sector was robust but it was the discount firms that saw greatest success again, TNS said this afternoon. The market was lifted by 6.4% overall during the 12 week to 25 January 2009, the company said, even though the sector remained defensive and shoppers cut back on the high street. Aldi boosted sales by 24.1% compared with the same period a year ago and its share rose to 3%. Frozen food retailer Iceland increased sales by 14% over the same 12-week period and also saw a higher share of 2%, TNS said.
