Client Newswrap: Pizza firm uses knorks as marketing tool and investors circle historic department store

Brands
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has issued a Statement of Objections alleging Reckitt Benckiser abused its dominant market position for the NHS supply of heartburn medicines. The OFT alleged that the pharmaceuticals giant withdrew and delisted its Gaviscon Original Liquid brand, for which the patent was about to expire, from the NHS prescription channel, so that doctors searching software for heartburn drugs would only be able to see Gaviscon Advance liquid, which is patent protected. When a branded drug’s patent has expired, doctors are able to search for a brand name and then offer unbranded alternatives under an ‘open’ prescription listing a generic name. The OFT said it was not in a position to decide if competition laws had been breached until it had received and reviewed Reckitt Benckiser’s response to the SO. 

Starbucks has agreed a deal with service station company Welcome Break to open coffee shops at 29 of its sites around the UK. Under the move, cafes will open over the next 16 months as part of a franchise deal to replace Welcome’s current Café Primo outlets. 80 million people use service stations every year.

Lucozade has launched a 500ml low-calorie sports drink that has 110 calories less than a standard 500ml Lucozade Sport drink. Sport Lite has 70% less sugars than regular sports drinks, according to Lucozade.

Pizza brands Chicago Town and Goodfella’s are both gunning for a bigger slice of the sector as they launch new marketing campaigns this week. Dr Oetker-owned Chicago Town has unveiled a ‘free knorks’ promotion on packs, offering a knife-fork hybrid as a prize, as part of a £1.3m marketing push. Northern Foods-owned Goodfella’s, which has experienced a 17% sales slump for its Deeply Delish range compared to Chicago Town’s 23% rise over the past year, is to reveal a major relaunch next week.

Drinks producer Diageo has slammed its rival Bacardi as the two groups battle for supremacy in the rum sector in the US. The group claimed privately owned Bacardi had attempted to block its expansion in America and “destroy the economy of the US Virgin Islands”. The dispute centres on Diageo’s decision to move production of its Captain Morgan rum from Puerto Rico to a planned $170m distillery in the US Virgin Islands, which, according to The Telegraph, is being built with money from American tax refunds.

Retailers
Historic department store Liberty said today that investors were hoping to buy the famous building near London’s Regent Street and lease it back to the company. Liberty’s parent company MWB Group Holdings recently appointed property agency Knight Frank to investigate interest in the building. The firm is rumoured to be offering the building, in Great Marlborough Street, for £40m.

Home interiors retailer Habitat has announced that is has offered voluntary redundancy packages to staff at its London head office in a bid to cut costs and return to profit. The company is funding the move through a loan from retail restructuring firm Hilco, which acquired the business in December last year, and is hoping to achieve annual savings of around EUR 5m.

Tesco-owned garden centre chain Dobbies has announced it will unveil a new store model next week as part of plans to boost its number of stores from 25 to 100 over the next 10 years. The chain will open a new £11.6m garden centre in Aberdeen his week. Tesco bought the firm for £155.6m in 2007.

Video games retailer Game Group has said it will close 43 of its outlets due to poor trading. The firm will close 18 of its 682 stores and all 25 of its concession stores in Debenhams, in a move that could affect up to 250 emloyees. Game Group like-for-like sales fell 15% in the 49 weeks to January 2010.

Aldi has announced that the boss of its Swiss operation has taken over joint control of Aldi UK and Ireland with Matthew Barnes. Roman Heini was formerly country managing director for Aldi Suisse and Barnes managing director of buying for Aldi Australia.

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