From BP and Centrica, to Unilever and Nestlé, multinationals are accelerating the sale of noncore assets as they look to shore up their balance sheets and pay down debt amid the pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic is forcing companies to reassess their core divisions and shift focus to higher-growth areas, say bankers and mergers and acquisitions lawyers.
The coronavirus pandemic continues to inspire food firms to maintain and launch aid initiatives to support the vulnerable and their peers. Salad and vegetable producer G’s announced on 6 August it had diverted more than 450 tons of surplus veg to UK food charity FareShare, enough for more than one million meals for vulnerable people.
The word "home" was mentioned 50 times on Nestle's second-quarter investor call, compared with just once during the same briefing that took place during 2019. Soon, household-staples companies could sound equally preoccupied with their flagging nondomestic businesses.
Coca-Cola has suffered its steepest quarterly sales drop in at least 25 years, in stark contrast to a resilient performance from its rival PepsiCo and raising questions about the drinks company’s defensive qualities. The US multinational said it would axe “zombie” brands as part of efforts to protect its bottom line after the closure of bars, restaurants and other venues pushed second-quarter sales down 28 per cent year on year to $7.2 billion.
To better respond to today's rapidly changing supply chain ecosystem, EY announces an expanded alliance with Procter & Gamble (P&G) to provide a broad range of supply chain capabilities designed to address businesses' unprecedented challenges and market disruption as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To ensure access affordable nutrition worldwide, Nestlé is accelerating its efforts to develop more affordable nutritious products for consumers, particularly those in emerging countries to tackle the global challenge facing many consumers. Announcing this in a statement during the week, Nestle says that the effort is to enable it to improve its product offerings for lower-income families, many of whom live on a few dollars a day, often resulting in a lack of essential nutrients in their daily diet.
Multinational bottling company Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) has launched a new paperboard packaging solution. The CanCollar packaging is certified by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and designed for multipack cans in Spain. The launch is in line with its partnership with Coca-Cola to remove all hard to recycle plastic from its portfolio, thereby eliminating more than 11,000t of virgin plastic annually in western Europe.
Personal care major Proctor & Gamble is trialing refill pods for its skin care brand Olay via Amazon in the UK for a limited time. Proctor & Gamble (P&G) initially announced the development of its refill pods in October, last year, and trialed the product at this time on its direct-to-consumer site in North America. The Amazon UK launch marked the company's first foray into the European market with this refill concept.
Nathan's Famous, Inc., the American tradition serving New York favorites for more than 100 years, announces today it has signed a licensing, manufacturing and distribution agreement with Mezzan Holding KSC, one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of food, beverage, FMCG and pharmaceutical products in the Gulf.
Mondelēz International, owner of Cadbury, Wednesday announced a partnership with English Premier League side Manchester City FC, making the chocolate brand the club’s Official Snacking Partner. The deal cover territories in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, China, the US, India, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Brazil and the UAE.
Unilever Nigeria on Wednesday announced that its parent company plans to spin off its tea business across the company’s markets except in India and Indonesia whilst maintaining partnership interests in the ready-to-drink tea joint ventures. The move will see a €2 billion tea business become an independent company distinct from Unilever. Unilever makes Lipton, Lipton Iced Tea ready- to-drink tea (partnership with PepsiCo), Brooke Bond, and PG Tips.
The Marmite-to-Ben & Jerry's owner Unilever has said the move to end its Anglo-Dutch structure and establish a single headquarters in London is due to be completed in November. The consumer goods group confirmed it expects to complete the switch to one corporate and legal HQ over the weekend of 21 and 22 November.
Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP), the largest Coca-Cola bottler based on revenue in the world, has signed a multiyear agreement with IBM to speed up its transformation to an open hybrid cloud environment using Red Hat OpenShift and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
IFBA GCC-based firms of the International Food & Beverage Alliance (IFBA) have achieved a 100% compliance against their commitment on the Pledge on Responsible Food and Beverage Marketing to Children in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
When dealing with the COVID-19 crisis many people struggle to find the best sources of information. As a contribution to the business community, Infomineo has put together a repository of the best sources of information which we will keep updating during the COVID-19 crisis.
After months of mandatory/necessary WFH implementation, business executives as well as workers are assessing its long-term potential and shaping their opinions on it. Will it last, once the public health emergency is over?
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