Cadburys chews over Danish gum

British confectionery and drinks group Cadbury Schweppes is set to announce a 350 million pound (€569 million) takeover of privately held Danish chewing gum firm Dandy, the Sunday Telegraph reported, according to a Reuters story.

Dandy is best known for its Stimorol chewing gum although other brands include the Dirol and V6 chewing gums. According to the report, Cadbury has made a number of acquisitions involving chewing gum in the past two years.

In 2000 it bought the French chewing gum and confectionery business of US food group Kraft Foods in a deal estimated to be worth 250 million pounds, giving it access to the well-known Hollywood chewing gum brand.

A Cadbury spokesman declined to comment on the unsourced report.

Cadbury shares closed up 0.7 per cent at 497-1/4 pence on Friday. The stock has outperformed the FTSE Eurotop 300 index (.FTEU3) by nearly 30 per cent over the last year.