Tesco has been rapped by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for promoting two-for-one offers on painkillers in its stores.
The MHRA said it could lead to the unnecessary purchase of medicines and stockpiling. It also undermined the spirit of the government’s pack-size restrictions which limit retailers to selling packs of painkillers containing no more than 16 tablets or capsules.
Two separate complaints about the marketing of multiple sales and volume-based promotional offers led to the MHRA’s investigation.
Tesco said it had no plans to run this type of promotion again.
Russian grocery retailer Pyaterochka has acquired its franchise operator Economtorg in an effort to consolidate its franchise operations. Pyaterochka’s operating subsidiary, Agrotorg, will buy Economtorg’s franchise network for $11m.

US retail giant Wal-Mart has retrospectively sacked former vice-chairman Thomas Coughlin, who had already left the company, after an internal investigation revealed that he had been “engaged in a scheme to misappropriate corporate funds and property for his own personal benefit”. Coughlin will be stripped of benefits estimated at $12m.

Procter & Gamble, the US’s biggest advertiser, is cutting the amount of money it spends on US TV advertising. It said it was slashing payments in advance for ads during a negotiation period known as “the upfront”. David McCracken, spokesman for P&G, said: “This process is only a prediction of our needs of the individual brands. It’s never actually what happens.”

Brewer SAB Miller has announced plans to expand into the Indian market. SAB said Indian subsidiaries would commit $125m in capital expenditure and marketing over five years to expand operations and develop its brands in the country.

Dutch supermarket group Royal Ahold will continue to simplify the way it runs its business this year, Ahold president and chief executive officer Anders Moberg has said. First-quarter results for the retailer revealed net sales were down 1% to €13bn and operating income was down to €346m from €349m for the same period last year.
n franchise buyout
n wal-mart sacking
n ad spend cut
n SAB targets india
n Ahold sales down

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