FRANCE: Carrefour reported net profits of £68m in the first half of 2010 and said it was confident its three-year transformation plan would help it hit targets. The retail giant swung back into the black after posting a £48m loss a year earlier, attributing this in part to radical operating decisions which boosted underperforming markets.

Sales were up 6% to £36bn and the group reported an 80 base point increase in market share in France under its Carrefour fascia. Performance was also buoyed by growth in Asia but operating profits fell 4.8% in Latin America in the first half of this year.

AUSTRALIA: This week, a new agreement governing the wine trade between Australia and the EU was implemented that will require Australian wine producers to phase out names such as Champagne and Port from next September. The agreement, which replaces the one signed in 1994, gives full protection to EU geographical indications, including those for wines intended for export to third countries.

"The agreement achieves a balanced result for European and Australian wine makers," said European commissioner for agriculture and rural development Dacian Ciolos.

SWITZERLAND: Nestlé Nutrition executive vice president Richard Laubé is leaving with immediate effect to "pursue personal opportunities". Nandu Nandkishore, global business head of infant nutrition, will assume interim responsibility.

NETHERLANDS: Heineken France MD Frans Eusman has been appointed to head up a new global business services organisation for the group that will focus on the delivery of purchasing and business process and technology services across the company. He will be succeeded as Heineken France MD by Marc Busain, MD of the Egyptian Heineken business Al Ahram Beverages.

"Given the scale and speed of our organisational develop-ment, there is considerable benefit in moving towards a more structured approach to providing business services," said Heineken's chairman and CEO Jean-François van Boxmeer.