Business

Welcome to our weekly round-up of news from the packaging industry's biggest clients.

Retailers

It's been another tough week for the retailers, with administrations hitting the headlines and Christmas price wars starting.

High-street staple Woolworths and furniture giant MFI went into administration. For Woolie's, at least, things look promising; the Financial Times reported this morning that buyers have been scrambling for a slice of the chain's assets.

Buyers were coming forward elsewhere, too, as Procter & Gamble paid £5m for a stake in online retailer Ocado. Food, too, is going online.

Catalogue sales specialist Argos pulled out the chequebook, too, paying £15m for the Alba and Bush electronics trademarks.

Meanwhile, it may be the season of goodwill, but someone has clearly forgotten to tell the supermarkets. The supermarket Christmas wars have intensified as several retailers fought over who'd be the first to implement the Chancellor's VAT cut.

And prices have been dropping all over the, erm, shop. House of Fraser has been holding a two-day 25% 'Big Brand Event', while Debenhams and Marks and Spencer said they were looking to repeat their 'one-off' sales.

Brand owners

Heineken has jumped on the responsible drinking bandwagon with a campaign to encourage consumers to get a 'continental head' through an online and mobile phone campaign to promote responsible drinking.

FMCG giant Unilever is investing £6m to ensure people see skin the way it does in a new marketing campaign for its expanded Vaseline range.

Whisky manufacturers raised a glass to the Treasury after a mathematical blunder led to the Chancellor increasing duty on spirits by 8%. It was corrected to 4% in order to leave prices roughly the same following the VAT cut.

Meanwhile, Dragons' Den star Levi Roots has revealed plans to expand his range of sauces with the addition of chilled foods. He told the Marketing Society that Caribbean favourites such as jerk chicken were on the menu.

Money-wise, it was a good week for some brands. Cigarette manufacturer Imperial Tobacco reported a hike in profits, prompting chief executive Gareth Davis to describe the year as a "significant achievement".

Drinks manufacturer Britvic, too, was left with a good taste in the mouth after recording 5% sales growth and a 14% rise in annual profits.

Finsbury Foods, though, was more cautious. The baked goods firm warned of tough times ahead despite an 11% sales increase. It expects margins to fall by between 1% and 2% for the coming year.