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| Companies, Organizations |  | | |
Organic and natural products company Hain Celestial posted robust first quarter financial results, including $31 million in profit (up 67 percent over a year ago) on net sales of $687 million (up nine percent) increase. The company said both sales and profit were hurt by currency headwinds. CEO Irwin D. Simon said U.S. performance in snacks, yogurt, tea, and personal care brands was strong but “overshadowed by temporary disruptions from some of our distributor and retail customers as well as a decline in grocery brands.” For 2016, the company expects total net sales to reach $3 billion (up 15 percent), and profit per share to increase as much as 20 percent over 2015.
"Hain Celestial Announces Record First Quarter Fiscal Year 2016 Results", News release, Hain Celestial, November 05, 2015 Spending in China’s fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) market slowed in the year that ended in September, growing by only 4.7 percent, according to Kantar Worldpanel. For the third quarter, growth dropped to 2.7 percent, the lowest rate in three years, from 6.6 percent in the second quarter. Growth in hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores grew only 2.4 percent in the third quarter. International retailers continued to struggle: market share slid from 14.5 percent to 13.5 percent. China’s local retailers fared much better. Sun-Art Group boosted market share to 7.5 percent, up from 6.9 percent in the third quarter of 2014. 2014Q3. Online shopping in China rose 37 percent during 2015, spurred by gains in penetration and... More "China FMCG market hits a new low growth", Report, Kantar WorldPanel, November 02, 2015
Processing acorns into flour for use in baking is a time-consuming, laborious, but ultimately satisfying process, according to acorn evangelist Chris Knapp. Getting from acorns to edible flour requires many steps: collecting the nuts, removing the caps, drying for three to six weeks, separating the meat from the shells and, lastly, milling and sifting the flour. Knapp is addicted to acorn flour because it’s locally sourced, yields a pound of flour for every two pounds of nuts, and can substitute for half of the wheat flour in any bread recipe.
"Green Plate Special: From a little acorn, use of mighty good flour could grow", Portland Press Herald, October 25, 2015 | Digiday, November 06, 2015 Seeking Alpha, November 05, 2015 European Parliament News, October 28, 2015 Australian Food News, October 28, 2015 Advertising Age, October 28, 2015 | |
| Earnings Release | | | |
Whole Foods Market, which once had a lock on the fresh and organic grocery segment, posted fourth quarter financials that failed to meet Wall Street expectations, sending its stock price downward and prompting a $1 billion stock buyback. The company’s sales were $3.44 billion, up six percent from a year ago, but less than the $3.47 billion analysts expected. Earnings per share were $0.16, less than half of the expected $0.34 per share. The key reason for the sour financial report, the company said, is “increasing competition” in the fresh and organic foods sector from conventional grocery retailers.
"Whole Foods Market Reports Fourth Quarter Results", News release, Whole Foods, November 04, 2015
Clorox posted a first quarter profit of $172 million ($1.31 a share), up from $90 million, or 68 cents a share, in the same period last year. The profit increase was earned on $1.39 billion in sales (up 2.8 percent). The results beat Wall Street estimates for the period. The company said its performance was helped by price increases and higher volumes, despite currency issues caused by a surging U.S. economy and a strong dollar. First quarter volumes rose three percent.
"Clorox Reports 3 Percent Sales Growth and 20 Percent EPS Growth in Q1; Confirms Fiscal Year 2016 Outlook", News release, Clorox , November 02, 2015 | | |
| Innovation & New Ideas | | | |
Food analytics company Clear Labs has launched a consumer initiative to help food buyers identify high-quality foods. Clear Food uses a rating system (Clear Score) based on in-depth molecular analysis of foods. Reports are provided to consumers free of charge. The food-analytics platform, based on next-generation genomic analysis, evaluates food at the molecular level, identifying content beyond a food’s ingredient label and packaging claims. Analyses can discover substitutions, allergens, gluten, bacterial contamination and GMOs.
"Clear Labs Launches Clear Food to Bring the Power of Genomic Sequencing to Food Consumers", News release, Clear Labs, October 22, 2015
Italy’s Barilla Group has launched a pasta for people in a hurry. Barilla Pronto goes from cold to “al dente” in 10 minutes because it requires no boiling and no draining. It is simply placed in a 12-inch skillet, covered with three cups of cold water, then cooked over high heat until the water is absorbed. Barilla Pronto comes in five varieties including elbows, half-cut linguine, penne, half-cut spaghetti, and rotini, and is available now in leading grocery stores across the U.S.
"Barilla Changes The Way You Think About Pasta. Pronto.", News release, Barilla Group, October 20, 2015 | United States Department of Agriculture, October 28, 2015 | |
| Legal, Legislation, Regulation, Policy | | | |
An executive agency of Britain’s Department of Health devoted to improving the country’s health and wellbeing has decided that the U.K.’s “sugar habit” cannot be solved by individual efforts and needs government intervention. In a new report, Public Health England associated high sugar consumption with obesity, which costs the National Health Service $7.7 billion a year. Among other suggestions, PHE recommended a 10 to 20 percent sugar tax and mandatory reductions in sugar content in foods. A quarter of adults, 10 percent of 4- to 5-year-olds and 19 percent of 10- to 11-year-olds in England are obese.
"Sugar Reduction: The evidence for action", Report, Public Health England, October 01, 2015 | Natural Products Insider, October 26, 2015 | |
| Market News | | | | Younger generations of Americans, particularly Millennials, are no longer content with knowing that their vitamin C tablet contains, well, vitamin C. They want to know more about the dietary supplements they take, and because they grew up in an age of information explosion, they know they can get that information somewhere, if not from the manufactuer. Where Boomers are content to know what’s in a supplement, Millennials want to know how the pill was made and where the ingredients were sourced. They want, in other words, transparency and traceability. Other important desirables: whole food ingredients (like nutritional greens), and functional foods and beverages delivered – not by pills – but alternatives like gummies, satchels,... More "Millennials demand transparency in supplements", NewHope360.com, October 20, 2015 General Mills is betting heavily that gluten-free food products – a hot industry trend – will help revive its slumping cereal sales. So it’s no surprise that the company acted quickly when reports started coming in that some Cheerios buyers were experiencing intestinal discomfort, a symptom of celiac disease, an immune response to gluten. Oats, of course, do not contain gluten. But oats mills and cereal manufacturing plants can often be contaminated with wheat, rye or barley flour. General Mills spent tens of millions of dollars to make sure its huge Fridley, Minn., flour mill was itself gluten-free. But the fail-safe systems in place somehow failed. The company last week recalled 1.8 million boxes of Cheerios and Honey Nut... More "Cheerios gluten-free misstep prompts quick actions by General Mills", Star Tribune (Minn.), October 11, 2015 | Food in Canada, November 01, 2015 Technomic, October 28, 2015 Supermarket News, October 22, 2015 | |
| Marketing & Advertising | | | |
Unilever combined the marketing departments for the company’s personal care and food and home units in Australia. As part of the reorganization, the company’s joint top marketing executives, Andrea Martens and Hugo Verkuil, are leaving Unilever. One of the biggest advertisers in the country, Unilever has a media spending budget of about $57 million, according to Nielsen.
"Unilever restructures, combines marketing VP roles into a CMO", AdNews, November 02, 2015 Online sales at CPG companies are growing three times faster than at other companies, mainly because they are finally taking advantage of the marketing opportunities presented by mobile devices. Researcher McKinsey says online sales will account for up to 30 percent ($50 billion) of total CPG growth in the next five years. The online research rate for some CPG products is astonishing: 45 percent for cereal, 55 percent for soap and 65 percent for cosmetics. For the future, successful CPG companies need to follow three winning practices: build strong account-management teams to serve strategic retail partners, develop next-generation e-category management, and build “digital quotient,” which McKinsey defines as an assessment of a... More "The digital future of consumer-packaged-goods companies", Report, McKinsey & Company, October 30, 2015 | Digiday, November 05, 2015 exchange4media News Service, November 02, 2015 | |
| Press Release | | | |
More than two-thirds of American adults say they take dietary supplements, and a large majority (84 percent) believe supplements are safe, according to a survey sponsored by the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a trade organization representing dietary supplement makers. Americans have the most confidence in the vitamins and minerals category. The survey found that between 2014 and 2015, overall usage of vitamins and minerals and “specialty supplements” remained flat. Usage of “herbals & botanicals” and “sports nutrition & weight management” supplements grew five percent.
"Most U.S. Adults Take Dietary Supplements, According to New Survey", News release, Council for Responsible Nutrition, November 23, 2015
The Living Wage Foundation has formally acknowledged that Unilever pays its entire U.K. workforce a living wage. The company is also committed to encouraging its suppliers to pay a living wage. The Foundation says the accreditation of Unilever as a living wage company means that more than a quarter of the Financial Ttimes Stock Index (FTSE) 100 are now part of the living wage movement. More than 2,000 other British businesses voluntarily pay the living wage rate based on the real cost of living in the U.K.
"Unilever signs up to Living Wage Foundation", Press release, Unilever, November 02, 2015 | | |
| Products & Brands | | | |
Lidl began selling wild-caught whole lobsters certified by the MSC. Launched in Lidl stores across the UK, the lobsters are sourced from a fisher in New Brunswick, Canada. Lidl has cooperated with the MSC for the past year to expand its range of certified sustainable seafood products. Forty-one percent of its wild seafood products are certified by the MSC, a 24 percent increase from 2014 level, with 100 percent of its fresh wild-caught fish MSC-certified.
"Lidl is first UK supermarket to offers MSC-certified lobster with Canadian catch", The Grocer, October 26, 2015 Sales of regular cola beverages in Western Europe will probably decline by as much as three percent over the next five years, but sales of diet colas will grow by three percent. This is in sharp contrast to the outlook for diet colas in the U.S., where negative publicity about the potential health dangers of artificial sweeteners, especially aspartame, helped push sales down 18 percent. According to Euromonitor, diet colas are doing well in Western Europe for several reasons, including historically lower carbonates consumption patterns, product innovation and product marketing, and comfort with alternative sweeteners. European consumers feel that consuming moderate levels of artificial sweeteners is safe, having been reassured by a... More "Why Are Diet Colas Doing So Well in Western Europe?", Blog, Euromonitor International, October 25, 2015 | Kantar Retail, November 04, 2015 Media Post, October 29, 2015 Business Insider, October 27, 2015 NewHope360.com, October 26, 2015 Euromonitor International, October 23, 2015 | |
| Research, Studies, Advice | | | |
A U.S. study reports that drinking beverages sweetened with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is associated with an increased prevalence and risk of chronic bronchitis in American adults. Adults who drink non-diet soda five or more times per week are 1.8 times as likely to develop chronic bronchitis as people who drink them only once or twice a month. And it doesn’t matter if smoking is involved. The researchers suggested that poorly absorbed excess fructose in the gut interacts with proteins to form antigens (“enFruAGEs”) that work their way to the lungs, triggering an immune response and causing bronchitis. More research is needed to prove the connection.
"Intake of high fructose corn syrup sweetened soft drinks is associated with prevalent chronic bronchitis in U.S. Adults, ages 20–55 y", Nutrition Journal, October 16, 2015
The Environmental Working Group reports that 86 breads and baked goods it analyzed contained a possible carcinogenic ingredient known as potassium bromate. The compound, linked in animal studies to cancer and development of tumors, is added to flour to firm up the dough, help it rise and give the finished bread an appealing white color. California is the only U.S. state that regulates potassium bromate. It requires a warning label on food containing it. Among the 86 products containing the potentially harmful compound are Hormel Foods breakfast sandwiches, Weis Kaiser rolls and French toast, and Goya turnover pastry dough.
"Scores of Baked Goods Contain Possible Cancer-Causing Additive", Report, Environmental Working Group, October 14, 2015 | Nutrition Insight, October 28, 2015 NewHope360.com, October 28, 2015 | |
| Trends | | | |
Nielsen research finds that shoppers aren’t particularly loyal to CPG brands, especially if there’s money to be saved. A June 2015 survey shows that 60 percent of shoppers check out sales, coupons and other promotions online or on their smartphones before heading to a store to buy CPG goods. Another 28 percent are enticed by e-mails to visit online shopping sites. And 26 percent said they always compare prices online before heading to the store. More than any other type of influence, coupons influenced brand decisions for 15 percent of grocery shoppers.
"Coupons and Deals Are Major CPG Influencers", eMarketer, November 19, 2015 The sweet and savory snacks market is not going away – it’s actually outperforming the rest of the packaged foods market – but is evolving or “repurposing,” according to Euromonitor. Meat-based snacks like Slim Jims have been “repurposed,” and are now popular among health-conscious consumers and selling much better than potato chips and candy in the U.S. and Europe. Millennials are eating fewer meals, and snacking more, especially on healthful snacks. Some traditional snack and candy companies are responding through acquisitions. Hershey, for example, bought Krave Jerky. And PepsiCo, which has seen major growth in potato and tortilla chip sales in Japan and China, is gradually turning toward healthier snacks to boost U.K. and U.S.... More "What’s New in Sweet and Savoury Snacks: Opportunities Abound for a New Wave of Products", Blog, Euromonitor International, October 21, 2015 | Euromonitor International, November 28, 2015 Nutraceuticals World, November 01, 2015 Fresh Plaza, October 28, 2015 Nielsen, October 16, 2015 Consumer Goods Technology, October 16, 2015 | |