PepsiCo on Thursday announced the appointment of Ramon Laguarta, a 20-year veteran of the beverage giant as President, filling the number-two position in the company and a slot that has been vacant since 2014 when the former president, Zein Abdalla left the firm.
In his new role, the 53-year old Laguarta will oversee PepsiCo’s global category groups; its global operations, corporate strategy, and public policy, and government affairs, as well as PepsiCo’s Foundation.
Anheuser-Busch InBev on Thursday announced the acquisition of Hiball Inc – an energy drinks company based in San Francisco, California. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Hiball was founded in 2005 and makes a line of energy drinks with ingredients such as guarana and ginseng, as well as Alta Palla, a line of sparkling juices.
AB InBev said it plans to deliver Hiball products to new markets, while preserving their culture and brand identities.
Rémy Cointreau reported sales of €240.2 million ($276m) in the first quarter of 2017/2018 financial year, an improvement of 9.9% from the previous year.
The maker of Rémy Martin cognac and Cointreau liqueurs credits its good performance to strong growth in the Asia Pacific region, with strong gains in Greater China, Singapore and improvement in Japan.
The group said that its cognac brands which contributes 65% of group sales rose 18.7% in the three months to June 30, up from 6.2% in the fourth quarter.
The Nigerian Bottling Company (“NBC”), bottlers of the famed Coca-Cola products in Nigeria suffered a legal setback in its bid to stop the execution of a judgement by a Lagos High Court which declared Fanta and Sprite to be poisonous soft drinks when consumed with vitamin C.
In a judgement delivered on February 15, a Lagos High Court dismissed all claims against the NBC and held that the company had not breached its duty of care to consumers and that there was no proven case of negligence against it.
Heineken Africa Foundation (HAF), in partnership with Nigerian Breweries Plc (NB PLC), on Thursday, July 13, 2017 commissioned an upgraded neonatal ward at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).
The upgrade involved a physical and infrastructural revamp of electrical units and provision of piped oxygen and air to the neonatal unit complex. The plumbing facilities were also upgraded to ensure availability of potable water in the unit.
Dangote Group, Nigeria’s largest company by market value, with interest in cement manufacturing, oil and gas, sugar, among others is planning to go into dairy manufacturing.
The company has confirmed plans to commence dairy farming in 2018, starting with 50,000 cows, with milk production to begin in 2019.
Beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) announced on Tuesday an ambitious investment of R2.8bn rand ($206.7m) in expansion at its South African subsidiary, South African Breweries Limited (SAB).
The upgrade which would take place at two of its breweries in Alrode and Rossylyn, will add new packaging lines for returnable glass bottles at both breweries and a brewhouse at the Rossyln plant. Each packaging line will handle 45,000 bottles per hour, adding a total of four million hectolitres of capacity per year. The endeavour will create up to 70 additional full-time jobs, the company said.
PepsiCo said on Tuesday that price increases implemented on its premium products in North America helped lift sales and profits in the second quarter.
The soft drinks giant recorded a 2% growth in revenue to $15.4bn in the second quarter, while net profit climbed 5% to $2.1bn. Half-year profit grew 17% to $3.4bn. It notes that “guilt-free” drinks which it describes as drinks with fewer than 70 calories such as diet sodas, and foods with lower levels of sodium and saturated fat like baked crisps which now account for about 45% of the its sales helped fuel higher revenue and profit.
The Federal Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Chief Audu Ogbeh, has commended FrieslandCampina WAMCO, makers of Peak and Three Crowns milk, for laying the groundwork for local milk sourcing and development in the country, and for uplifting the lives of Nigerian dairy farmers.
The Minister made these comments on Monday July 10, while visiting the company’s state-of-the-art local milk collection facilities in Fashola Village and Iseyin town, both in Oyo State. The centres support the company’s Dairy Development Programme (DDP).
Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA), the South African-based Coke bottler announced on Thursday it has acquired Equator Bottlers Limited, Kenya’s third largest Coke bottler for an undisclosed amount.
According to media reports, Kenya’s regulators (Competition Authority of Kenya) gave their blessing to the deal last Friday.
