A market report on Australia’s packaged food sector from market research consultancy Euromonitor predicts that ongoing economic uncertainty and weak consumer confidence could provide Australia’s packaged food retailers with enhanced opportunities to grow retail volume sales. Euromonitor’s ‘Packaged Food in Australia’ market report, released yesterday, says the packaged food industry displayed resilience against lowered consumer confidence following the global financial crisis of 2008 and... ...Read more »

Lion, the Kirin-owned food and drinks company, has experienced challenging conditions and declining revenue across its businesses in Australia and New Zealand over the last six months, ending March 31 2011, according to its latest financial figures reported on August 5, 2011. The report shows declines in Lion’s beer, spirits and wine divisions in Australia and New Zealand, and in its dairy and drinks division: Beer, spirits and wine divisions in Australia and New Zealand delivered earnings before... ...Read more »

Woolworths has announced plans to source all its own-label fresh milk products from Parmalat in NSW, a move the company said is not related to its ‘milk war’ with Coles. The company has moved the supply of own-label milk under the Woolworths Fresh and Woolworths Home Brands labels in the state from National Foods (recently renamed to Lion) to Parmalat. Parmalat, which operates in Australia under the Paul’s, Rev and Breaka labels, is an Italian-owned conglomerate, currently under... ...Read more »

Kirin-owned dairy and drinks giant, Lion Nathan National Foods, today announced its intention to rebrand its three divisions – Lion Nathan Australia, Lion Nathan New Zealand and National Foods – to a single new brand, Lion. All three will use the Lion brand, but the company said that to distinguish informally as required, National Foods will be known as Dairy and Drinks, while the Lion Nathan businesses will become Beer, Spirits and Wines, Australia, and Beer, Spirits and Wines, New Zealand. Lion... ...Read more »

Lion Nathan National Foods announced its results for the quarter ended 31 December 2010, with tough results across the board. Revenues for National Foods and Lion Nathan Australia were both down 11%, to $729.8 and $430.2 respectively. White milk volumes declined 11% for National Foods, and Lion Nathan’s 4% higher per-litre price was also knocked out by lower volumes. Only Lion Nathan New Zealand delivered increased revenue, up 9% at NZ$204.7 million. “Rising interest rates and power costs,... ...Read more »

National Foods has announced the results of its six-month review of cheesemaking operations across Australia, revealing plans to consolidate Tasmanian operations at its Burnie site, close its Victorian locations and sell its South Australian sites. In Tasmania, the Kirin-Lion-Nathan owned dairy giant will invest $120 in its Burnie facility to produce all its specialty cheeses, transferring operations from its Heidi Farm site, and closing Kings Meadow over three years at a loss of 40 jobs. Only King... ...Read more »

Peter Kean, currently Managing Director of Lion Nathan National Foods’ New Zealand and Global Wine businesses, has been appointed Managing Director of food and beverage company National Foods, from 1 April 2011, replacing Andrew Reeves, who will leave the business to become CEO at ABF’s George Weston Foods. National Foods is one of Australasia’s largest FMCG companies, employing over 4,000 people and producing category-leading brands in milk and dairy beverages, juice, fresh dairy, cheese... ...Read more »

Goodman Fielder, Australia’s largest food group, has announced yesterday (18 January) that CEO Peter Margin has resigned from the company.Shares in the breads and spreads producer fell almost 3% to A$1.31 a share at the close of trading today after the announcement that Margin would be leaving to “pursue the next stage of his career”. Chairman Max Ould said Margin had done an “outstanding job of leading the company” through its IPO in late 2005 and “establishing... ...Read more »

National Foods’ juice line Berri will be required to change two of its flagship brands, Australian Fresh and The Daily Juice Company, after an ACCC investigation found the brand names might be misleading customers into believing the juice was 100% freshly-squeezed. Some Australian Fresh juices contain a blend of fresh and cold stored juice, depending on seasonal availability, with only the Australian Fresh apple juice being 100% freshly squeezed. Daily Juice Company juices contain a blend of... ...Read more »

Japanese food and beverage group Kirin Holdings has slashed its profit forecast for 2010 due to JPY38.8bn (US$463.5m) of write-downs at National Foods, its dairy and juice unit in Australia. Kirin was targeting net income of JPY35bn for 2010 but on Monday (20 December) set a new forecast of JPY10bn. The company said an “appraisal” of National Foods’ assets and operations had shown that increasing input costs and “changes in the Australian market” would hit the brand... ...Read more »