FrieslandCampina plans to cuts its German workforce by more than 15% in an effort to increase its competitiveness in the country's supermarket-dominated “difficult” dairy market.
French industrial business Groupe Caravelle has said it intends to acquire an equity stake in Naturex, following Spanish group Natraceutical’s sale of its 15.35% stake in the company earlier this month.
DSM has successfully completed its €85m acquisition of Cargill’s cultures and enzymes business – increasing its “critical mass” in the €1bn market for dairy industry cultures and enzymes.
The Ethical Coffee Company (ECC) has launched a law suit against Nestlé subsidiary Nespresso in Paris claiming its larger rival ran a ‘systematic smear and defamatory’ campaign to discredit ECC's coffee capsules.
European Intersnack Group has snapped up United Biscuits’ KP Snacks for an undisclosed sum in a move that will enable the UK firm to 'dedicate focus' to its biscuits business, United Biscuits said.
Ingredient supplier Chr. Hansen has upgraded its Moscow offices and added an applications laboratory, in a move it says will help it to better respond to local customers’ requests.
French dairy giant Danone has pinpointed the restoration of Southern European dairy product consumption and demand as one of its main short term strategic priorities.
Netherlands-based food company Royal Wessanen has said it will cut about 300 jobs in Europe as part of a cost reduction and restructuring programme, as it aims to adapt to the continued weak economy.
Global prices for a range of hydrocolloids, including microcrystalline cellulose, carrageenan, alginate products and other gums, have been raised by up to 15% by FMC BioPolymer.
It has been a year since Wild’s acquisition of US-based mint specialist AM Todd and the flavours and ingredients firm says the deal has borne fruit on several levels – including allowing it to tap into new consumer flavour trends.
Dairy nutrition firm Volac has reported an operating profit increase of nearly 40% for the year ending February 2012, citing the impact of increased exports and improved profits from overseas operations.
Canadian dairy processor Agropur plans to invest more than $100m in a US whey processing facility to increase the plant’s capacity and upgrade existing technology.
Chilled food manufacturer Greencore has reported “a breakthrough year”, with revenue up 44.5% to £1,161.9M due to acquisitions and “business momentum”, for the full year to September 28 2012.
Nestlé has identified Africa as one of the biggest areas of opportunity for the food industry in the next ten to twenty years – both within the continent and for European food makers, according to Dr Serigne Diop, director of Nestlé’s R&D centre in...
UK dairy processor First Milk has set its sights on the rapidly expanding market for dairy products in Asian countries such as China, after identifying demand for British cheeses.
Croatian food company Atlantic Grupa has won a €307m finance package from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for new energy systems, sustainability certifications and working capital financing.
Premier Foods will shut two bakery sites and remove 130 distribution routes at a cost of £28m ($44.5m); a move sparked by its lost Co-op bread contract.
More than 400 workers at chilled convenience food manufacturer Greencore’s Hull factory will receive up to £1.2M after winning an employment tribunal dealing with cuts in their pay.
Rousselot has said it plans to increase gelatine prices 7% up to low double digit levels for 2013 as continued growth in demand has not been met by raw material supply.
Naturex has said it will honour the memory of recently deceased founder and chairman Jacques Dikansky by changing the name of the foundation he created to aid sustainability and community development.
Frozen food manufacturer Glendale Foods has delivered a UK first with the installation of a high speed multi-forming machine that can make up to 3,000 meatballs a minute.
Rival soft drinks firms Britvic and AG Barr have finally agreed a merger to create a £1.5bn business, which will trade under the name Barr Britvic Soft Drinks.
Operating profits dropped in two of the Real Good Food Company’s (RGFC) bakery businesses – Haydens and R&W Scott – but analysts say the group is on track entering the critical Christmas period.
Parmalat has reported double-digit revenue and profit growth for the first nine months of 2012, driven by strong performances by its US, Canadian, Australian and Russian segments.
Reuters reports that Japanese drink maker Yakult Honsha has confirmed it has agreed with Danone SA to continue talks on the possibility of the French food company to take a bigger stake in Yakult.
Rampant nutrition business acquirer, Royal DSM, has splashed the cash for the ninth time in two years – this time to the tune of €495m ($634m) on US-based multinational nutrient blending giant, Fortitech (€212m/$270m annual turnover).
Ingredients group Tate & Lyle have made solid progress in the first half of this year despite the ‘headwinds’ of softer market conditions in Europe, says the firm.
Kraft Foods have reported strong third quarter 2012 results with growth fuelled by new products and gains in productivity, says the newly independent business.
Mondelēz International was weighed down by operational issues in Brazil and Russia in the third quarter (Q3) which harmed overall performance in its first results since it split from Kraft Foods in October.
Tate & Lyle will pump up to £30m ($48m/€36.5m) over eight-years in a new venture capital fund that will invest in start-ups and expansion-stage companies in food sciences and enabling technologies.
Only an extraordinary pension return of Y27.7bn (€268m) dragged Japanese food, ingredients and pharma player Ajinomoto into the black for the March-September period as ordinary income slid 11% to Y39.2bn (€379m).
Irish dairy giant Glanbia is “confident” of delivering its full year profits target, despite reporting marginal growth for the first nine months of 2012.
A bumper performance in the sugar market has helped Associated British Foods balance sharply declining profits in its ingredients and grocery businesses.
Royal DSM saw Q3 sales slip 7% to €2.3bn across all divisions with polymer intermediates performing worst, but as has been the case in recent quarters, the Dutch firm’s nutrition cluster held firm with 1% organic growth in difficult economic times.
Nestlé's $11.85bn (€9bn) acquisition of Pfizer Nutrition has been given the go-ahead by anti-trust authorities in China – taking the “strategic” takeover a step closer to completion.
Glanbia has unveiled a €21m whey protein isolate (WPI) investment at its Dairy Ingredients Ireland (DII) Ballyragget facility – the Irish dairy giant’s latest expansion effort driven by the up-coming milk quota abolition.
Shares jumped more than 3% to just over €24.05 this morning in Danish enzymes, colours and cultures company Chr Hansen as its yearly revenue hit €699m. Profits improved 10.7% to €131.3m for the 12 month period ended August 31.
Premier Foods has announced the £92.5 sale of its sweet pickles and table sauces business to Japanese firm Mizkan Group in a move that puts the firm past its target for disposals.
BASF’s nutrition and health unit (N&H) earned €492m in Q3 – 4% more for the quarter than in 2011 when it had sales of €471m – despite falling prices for most vitamins.
CSM’s soon-to-be axed bakery supplies business shined in the third quarter alongside a ‘satisfactory’ performance of the future bio-based business, its CEO said.
Unilever reported a 1.4% drop in its food sales volumes in the third quarter, as its spreads business suffered from high pricing relative to competitors – but overall revenue at the company was up 10.3%.