Cargills( Ceylon ) Plc Acquires Diana Biscuits In Srilanka

Cargills Quality Foods Ltd a subsidiary of Cargills (Ceylon) PLC completed the acquisition of Diana Biscuits Manufactures (Pvt) Ltd yesterday. The investment to acquire the production facility located in Nalanda, Matale totaled Rs 350 million.
Diana Biscuits is engaged in the manufacture, marketing and distribution of a range of biscuits under the brand name "Helan", which fits in well with the current portfolio of products manufactured and marketed by the Cargills Group of Companies.
Cargills is of the view that the anticipated double digit economic growth in the medium term and the consequent growth in per capita income and change in lifestyle among young Sri Lankans provide vast opportunities for the FMCG business. The Company is therefore looking to further expand its businesses in line with its core business interests in retail and FMCG.
Sri Lanka is among the highest per capita consumers of biscuits in the South Asian region. Cargills therefore sees great potential for expansion and innovation in the biscuit category. The Group also identifies branded consumer goods to be a thrust in its future expansion and diversification. The acquisition of Diana Biscuits manufactures (Pvt) Ltd comes in the wake of these identified opportunities and potential for sustainable growth.

pic courtesy : cargillsceylon.com

Since its entry into the food manufacturing business over two decades ago, Cargills has enjoyed sustained levels of growth in its FMCG businesses. All Cargills manufacturing brands, Cargills Magic, Cargills Finest, Cargills Supremo and Cargills Kist are established market leaders being responsible for driving industry growth through an innovation driven strategy. The competitive advantage of being the leader in modern trade industry through its Cargills Food City supermarket chain coupled with its islandwide marketing and distribution subsidiary Millers Limited provides the ideal platform on which Cargills can nurture the potential of this newly acquired biscuit company.

source :http://print.dailymirror.lk

Mrs Field's Opens Co - Branded Stores With New Zealand Natural Ice Cream

 A Unique concept which has now gained as innovative marketing strategies for companies to  cross promote products which are complimentary to each other .Mrs Field's is one of the premier chain offering cookies and baked goods to  390 outlets in United States and 80 bakery  chains world wide .

Mrs. Field’s Australia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with New Zealand Natural Ice Cream to develop co-branded stores in Australia.
Mrs. Fields Australian Managing Director Andrew Benefield announced the deal alongside David Foreman, the General Manager of Emerald Foods which owns New Zealand Natural.
According to Benefield, the product synergies between the two brands made it a logical partnership.
“I believe that co-branded outlets  still need to have an offer that makes sense to consumers.  Cookies and Ice Cream are a natural fit,” he said.
“There are lots of complementary products we can develop such as ice cream sandwiches, affagato’s and brownie sundaes.”
The new combined operations would also be instrumental in helping the franchisee smooth the daily and seasonal sales curve, according to Benefield.
“Ice cream is obviously a popular item in summer as are cookies in winter. However they are also complementary during the course of a single day as coffee and cookies are strong in mornings, and ice creams and smoothies are big in the afternoon.  Both have a very similar frozen goods supply chain, making it an easy fit into rear of house operations.”
Continuously improving sales and the profitability of the franchisee is  vital to the success of both companies moving forward, Benefield added.

read more on www.dynamicbusiness.com.au