Client Newswrap: Cadbury heiress ‘to start rival chocolate firm’ and workers killed in blast at Coca-Cola plant

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Brands
Cadbury heiress Felicity Loudon has said she will sell her £27m country estate in Oxfordshire in a bid to launch a new chocolate company. The great granddaughter of John Cadbury told the Sunday Times she was appalled Cadbury had been sold to an American “plastic cheese company”. “I want to make chocolate and I’m jolly well going to do it,” she added.

Three workers have been killed in an explosion at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in India. Local police in the eastern state of Orissa detained three officials from the Khurda plant of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages after the blast on Friday, in which three employees of a boiler services firm were killed and five others injured when a boiler exploded.

Heineken has sold its loss-making drinks subsidiary Waverly TBS to a private equity firm for an undisclosed sum. Manfield Partners bought the wholesaler, which will continue to be run by its senior management team.

GlaxoSmithKline is in advanced talks with a potential distributor to launch its Lucozade energy drink in the United States. The company’s head of consumer healthcare John Clarke said the group was “globalising” the brand, which had sales of £376m last year, mostly in Britain and Ireland.

Unilever is planning to open a number of Marmite pop-up shops to establish the brand’s positioning in new areas. Meanwhile, Unilever’s new chief marketing officer Keith Wood has announced the FMCG giant plans to double its spend on digital marketing over the next year.

Retailers
Online grocery retailer Ocado has cut operating losses by nearly two thirds in the past six months ahead of its stock market flotation. According to The Grocer, losses for 24 weeks to 16 May fell to £2.7m, down 63% from the previous year’s £7.4m losses.

One in four shoppers rarely buy food from the frozen food aisle, according to a new survey. The research, conducted by YouGov SixthSense, found that around half of the people polled felt frozen food sections were “uninspiring”, a third found the range of products limited and 65% said frozen food packaging should be changed so consumers could see more of the product.

Marks & Spencer’s joint venture with Reliance Retail (RR) in India has announced it plans to double its presence in the subcontinent. M&S currently runs 17 stores in conjunction with Indian-owned RR and plans to increase that number to more than 50 over the next three years.

Asda has said its decision to offer cheaper cancer drugs is not a publicity stunt, according to The Grocer. The retailer announced the move last month, claiming patients could save up to 76% on seven of the most common privately prescribed drugs compared to the prices of high street and supermarket rivals.

Convenience store chain Londis has reported that its retail partners have placed 853 pre-Christmas confectionery and grocery orders – its strongest-ever orders ahead of the festive season. The company said the news was even more significant given that retailers had less time to complete orders due to the World Cup and budget.

Investor Warren Buffett, who is among the world’s richest men, has increased his stake in Tesco in a move that will be seen as a sign he supports Terry Leahy’s successor. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway investment firm upped its stake in the retailer to 3.02%.

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