Unilever share price drops after deal talks with Kraft Heinz fall apart February 20, 2017 Shares in Unilever finished more than seven per cent lower today after talks around a potential deal with Kraft Heinz were called off over the weekend. The proposed takeover was revealed on Friday, sending FTSE 100-listed Unilever's share price up 15 per cent, and Kraft's up by 4.3 per cent in pre-market trading in New York. [...]
Downing Street was up for a fight over the now scuppered $140bn Kraft Heinz-Unilever mega deal February 20, 2017 Sometimes, it’s just not meant to be. Many of us spent the weekend chewing over the early manoeuvres of what would have been one of the largest corporate deals ever, but by Sunday evening Kraft Heinz declared it was “amicably” walking away from its audacious bid to scoop up Unilever. In just 48 hours, a [...]
FTSE 100 history: how the index has changed over 33 years July 3, 2017 The FTSE 100 index has just seen one of its quarterly changes with security firm G4S and real estate investment trust Segro promoted to the top 100. Although perhaps small in themselves, these regular events have changed the face of the UK’s leading index since it was formed in 1984. For the many investors whose [...]
Politicians must tread carefully on M&A intervention February 20, 2017 It is common in business and politics today to talk about "signals". Brexit is either a signal of our desire to cut ourselves off from the world, or a sign that we’re set to become a kind of expansionist high-seas merchant. From immigration to Donald Trump, foreign policy to international aid, perceptions are increasingly being [...]
Mondelez International takes out sweet £1m insurance policy for one of its chocolate tasting-scientists September 6, 2016 Mondelez International has taken niche insurance to a whole new level after it insured the taste buds of one of its chocolate scientists for £1m with Lloyd's of London. Hayleigh Curtis works as part of Cadbury's innovation team at Mondelez's Global Centre of Chocolate Excellence, based in Bournville, the birthplace of Cadbury chocolate. The specialist chocolate team [...]
Opinion: Is Bournville Village the key the solving the housing crisis? February 4, 2017 There’s nothing new about employers building houses for their employees. George Cadbury wanted to build a place full of green spaces, where industrial workers could thrive, away from city pollution. By 1895, 143 cottages had been built and Bournville Village was born. Another business industrialist with similar philanthropic ideals was the ‘soap king’ Lord Lever [...]
Chocolate giant Cadbury and owner Mondelez hit back over Dispatches claims of recipe changes and job losses March 21, 2016 Cadbury owner Mondelez has hit back at claims the confectioner has changed the recipe for its iconic product, Dairy Milk, and accused Channel 4's Dispatches programme of being one-sided and misleading. Cadbury was bought by Mondelez when it was known as Kraft in 2010, in a controversial hostile takeover. According to Dispatches, thousands of jobs [...]
Not all gravy: Profits melted away in hot weather at Oxo and Bisto owner Premier Foods November 15, 2016 Shares in the owner of Bisto gravy steamed in four per cent higher today as a result of good news on its pension schemes, this was despite the summer's weather hitting profits. Premier Foods revealed half-year earnings had fallen by over four per cent in the six months to the end of September. Meanwhile, underlying revenues fell [...]
“There truly is no god”: How social media reacted to the Toblerone tragedy November 8, 2016 Fans of the popular nutty, triangle-shaped chocolate bar Toblerone are bitterly disappointed after the company revealed a change to its design. Mondelez International, who makes the product, has increased the gaps between the triangles to reduce the weight of two of its bars in the UK. This is not OK, fans say. This tragedy has not [...]
Manufacturing giant Premier Foods to increase prices due to Brexit vote January 10, 2017 Premier Foods, the supplier of iconic brands such as Mr Kipling cakes and Bisto gravy, is in talks with its major retail customers about lifting prices due to a double whammy of weaker sterling and higher commodity costs. City A.M. can reveal that the listed food manufacturer last month opened discussions with the likes of [...]