Danone benefits from price hikes April 14, 2011 FRENCH food group Danone stuck to its full-year goals yesterday despite rising commodity costs and tough economic conditions, after price hikes fuelled stronger-than-expected first-quarter sales. The world’s largest yoghurt maker with brands like Actimel and Activia said business picked up in all divisions, with water and baby food particularly strong and it benefited from its [...]
FTSE at two-week low as banks and Reckitt fall April 14, 2011 The FTSE returned to a downward path today to close at a two-week low after household goods giant Reckitt Benckiser broke the news that its chief executive had unexpectedly stepped down. The FTSE 100 lost 46.6 points or 0.8 per cent to close at 5,963.80 as banks and miners also suffered, with fears over Asian [...]
Unilever fined for EU price fix April 13, 2011 CONSUMER goods giants Unilever and Procter & Gamble were yesterday fined €315.2m (£281m) by EU regulators for fixing washing powder prices in eight EU countries. Germany’s Henkel, which alerted the European Commission to the cartel in laundry detergents, was not fined. The penalty for Unilever was €104m while P&G was fined €211.2m. As part of [...]
Unilever and P&G fined for price fixing April 13, 2011 Consumer goods giants Unilever and Procter & Gamble were fined 315.2 million euros (£281m) by EU regulators for fixing washing powder prices in eight EU countries. Germany’s Henkel, which alerted the European Commission to the cartel in laundry detergents, was not fined. The penalty for Unilever was 104m euros while P&G was fined 211.2m euros. [...]
Unilever likely to face fine for fixing wash powder price April 12, 2011 CONSUMER goods giant Unilever, which makes Persil, is expected to be fined today by competition watchdogs for fixing prices in the washing powder market. The Anglo-Dutch firm, together with Ariel maker Procter & Gamble, is understood to have struck a deal with the European Commission that will see it receive a reduced penalty in exchange [...]
Unilever washes hands of Sanex March 23, 2011 Unilever has sold its shower gel and deodorant business Sanex to US consumer goods group Colgate-Palmolive for €672m (£584m), the firm said. The sale is part of Unilever’s deal with the EU to sell the brand for anti-trust reasons.
WPP buys Vietnamese agency March 22, 2011 WPP yesterday announced the acquisition of Vietnamese digital agency Who Digital. The world’s biggest advertising agency plans to form a joint venture in the country with OgilvyOne, in which it will take a majority stake. Who Digital, which has assets of around £400,000, has clients including Unilever, Megastar, HSBC, Baoviet and Sony Ericsson. The acquisition [...]
Intertek buys energy expert Moody for $730m March 7, 2011 Safety testing company Intertek is buying quality and safety services firm Moody International for $730m (£450m) in cash to add energy sector expertise. Intertek, which also reported forecast-beating full-year profits up 11 per cent, said the acquisition would drive expansion in two key areas, industry services and system certification. Intertek, which tests a range of [...]
Rich rewards for Coffee Nation team after sale March 2, 2011 COFFEE Nation’s chief executive Scott Martin and his team will be sharing an estimated £11.9m pot after Whitbread yesterday announced that it had paid £59.5m in cash for the company. The management team bought the self service coffee company in 2008 with private equity backing from Investec and Milestone Capital. Other Coffee Nation executives in [...]
Don’t blindly follow the herds into the big cap funds March 2, 2011 DESPITE large-cap funds having underperformed against their small to mid-cap alternatives in recent years (see chart), figures would suggest that this year could see large-cap funds turn the tables. “We have certainly seen a lot more interest in equities, away from bonds and gilts,” said Andy Simpson at Schroders Asset Management, “though not as attractive [...]