All articles by Charlie Wright – Page 18
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NewsP&G quits food trade after selling Pringles to Kettle Chips owner
Procter & Gamble has exited the food business after selling its Pringles crisp brand. Diamond Foods, the US snacks group that owns Kettle Chips, has bought the brand in a deal worth $2.35bn (£1.44bn).
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NewsOrganic sales tumble for second consecutive year
Sales of organic products tumbled by almost 6% last year, as reduced customer spending took its toll on the beleaguered sector. The Soil Association’s annual Organic Market Report, published yesterday, revealed that sales were down 5.9% in 2010 to £1.73bn.
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Comment and Opinion
Competitive instincts
New figures from the BRC today had food inflation falling – down from 4.5% in February to a still considerable 4% last month. With salaries rising at nothing like that rate, no wonder there’s been a squeeze on consumer spending – as reflected in recent results from the likes of ...
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NewsCarlsberg debuts new strapline in global ad revamp
Carlsberg has unveiled a major revamp of its marketing strategy in a move that will see the lager brand's signature 'Probably' claim take a back seat outside the UK.
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Comment and Opinion
Was it Alworth the effort?
From the ashes it rose – a gleaming purple-fascia’d phoenix that soared briefly, yet gloriously, across the retail sky. And back to ashes it has returned, with a sickening thump, to be tilled into the earth as food for the worms.
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NewsOddbins faces administration after Customs torpedoes survival bid
Oddbins will be plunged into administration next week after HM Revenue & Customs refused to back its survival plan.
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NewsDouble-strength squash helps The Co-op slash packaging
The Co-operative Group says its move to double-concentrated squash will cut the packaging used for its own-brand cordial by 40%. Eighty-three tonnes of packaging a year will be saved by the move, the mutual said.
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NewsTesco is UK’s most valuable retail brand, claims shock report
Supermarkets dominate a new list of the most valuable names in UK retail, with Tesco – perhaps unsurprisingly – crowned top.
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Comment and Opinion
Mars's barmy army
It’s the nature of rankings like Britain’s 100 Biggest Brands that there are winners and there are losers. Or, to put it more generously, those that won less than others.
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Comment and Opinion
Feeling co-operative?
Today The Co-op unveiled some pretty dismal like-for-like numbers for food sales, down 2.5% on last year. That wasn’t a huge surprise coming off the back of a disappointing Christmas.
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NewsPromotions hit record 40% of all supermarket sales
The supermarkets’ reliance on promotions to shift volume has reached a new high. Data from Neilsen shows 40% of all sales came from items on promotion – a record for the sector.
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NewsCash-strapped shoppers slam brakes on grocery growth
Growth in the UK grocery market slowed dramatically over the past three months, as shoppers further reined in their spending in response to inflation.
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Comment and Opinion
Nice weather for ducks
After last week’s gloomy news from the high street and a Budget that gave little cause for optimism to voters in our current weekly poll, today brought a raft of further statistical evidence proving what we already knew.
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Comment and OpinionCritical Eye... on mummy's boys and marrow girths
Only ex-cons and prize-fighters can get away with having 'Mum' tattooed on a visible part of their body. And only weirdos want that word inked somewhere more private. The stars of Hairy Bikers: Mums Know Best (Tuesday 8pm, BBC2) are the...
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Comment and OpinionAd of the Week: Knight of the Rowntree table fails to storm the Pastille
Once you pop, Pringles used to say, you can't stop. That was before the dawn of the obese époque, when we became a bloated nation of beached whales gurgling cholesterol through our lipid-encrusted blowholes. Now if you don't stop after...
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Comment and Opinion
Buried alive
'Sainsburied’ screams the headline in today’s edition of The Sun. It’s a nice line. Just as pleasingly, though less dramatically, the Financial Times notes that ‘Good shares cost less at Sainsbury’s’.
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News
Private equity group swoops for pet food maker Provimi
Private equity group Advent International has bought Provimi Pet Food in a deal worth €188m (£163.8m). The own-label pet food maker is based in Budapest and employs 1,000 staff across eight sites around Europe.
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Comment and Opinion
The Irish example
These days Ireland’s economy resembles not so much the Celtic tiger of yore as a rather mangy tabby that’s gone through the spin cycle one too many times. So it’s novel for a commentator to look in that direction for an example of sound economic management.
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NewsM&S adds Jamie Redknapp to spring campaign
Marks & Spencer has unveiled details of its spring advertising campaign, with football pundit Jamie Redknapp making his TV debut for the chain alongside the likes of Lisa Snowdon and Twiggy.
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Comment and OpinionAd of the Week: Cravendale changes tack with cats’ new rule of thumb
They say you can tell how crazy a woman is by how many cats she keeps. It's usually one for each time she was jilted at the altar. There's something rather sinister about these purring barometers of post-menopausal desperation, which...