Posts by theo.foukkare@bigpond.com

Supermarket giant Countdown is spending $400 million on a transformation plan, including rebranding back to Woolworths from early 2024. The signage of the stores will start changing in the next couple of months, but the complete rebranding will take some time. The entire network of 194 Countdown stores will take a couple of years to switch. Woolworths Group CEO Brad Banducci said Woolworths had a long history in New Zealand, opening its first New Zealand store in Wellington in 1929. It has been 14 years since the Countdown brand slowly replaced Woolworths and Foodtown stores in New Zealand. The last stores rebranded in 2011. Woolworths Meadowlands in Manukau and Foodtown Browns Bay on Auckland’s North Shore were the last to go and both rebranded in November 2011. Banducci said the change of name was just one part of the supermarket’s planned transformation. “I’m excited by today’s announcement and what it means for our…

The partnership creates access to the Uber platform for Vroom customers. Vroom Delivery, a maker of proprietary software for the convenience retail industry, has partnered with Uber to expand and improve its network and access to consumers. Retailers currently using Vroom Delivery’s back-office, inventory, and loyalty products can now use Uber’s enhanced integrations, which will power orders from the Uber Eats app. The new agreement will also allow Vroom consumers to use Uber Direct, Uber’s white-label delivery fulfillment service, to fulfil orders from merchant-owned channels. According to a press release from the company, Vroom Delivery has partnered with regional and national chains in over 3,000 stores in about 40 states. “We are excited to partner with Vroom Delivery to help convenience retailers reach more customers and grow their businesses with delivery,” said Bernie Huddleston, general manager of Uber Direct for U.S. and Canada. “By making it easier for convenience retailers…

Purchasing Denbury will give the oil giant the largest owned and operated carbon dioxide pipeline network in the U.S. Dive Brief: Dive Insight: ExxonMobil isn’t the only major oil company spending billions to lower its carbon emissions. Last year, BP acquired biogas producer Archaea Energy for $4.1 billion to help reduce its carbon intensity to net zero by 2050. The oil major was reportedly exploring the M&A market earlier this year thanks to record profits in 2022, and was “on the hunt for a seismic deal,” according to The Wall Street Journal, having discussed a potential tie-up with multiple companies. Acquiring Denbury helps ExxonMobil build out a cost-efficient transportation and storage system to improve its CCS deployment over the next decade, according to the announcement. Once developed, the companies’ combined assets have the potential to reduce emissions by over 100 million metric tons per year. Besides the CO2 pipeline network and natural gas operations,…

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has stressed the importance of his government’s ‘swap to stop’ programme for improving public health. It promotes vaping as a much safer alternative to smoking cigarettes and is part of a strategy that encourages adults to make informed choices rather than imposing bans that leave them with limited options, writes Political Editor Nick Powell. When Prime Minister Sunak was challenged at Westminster on how the UK’s National Health Service could be relieved of ever-growing pressures, he put anti-smoking policy at the centre of his reply. In the UK, it’s recognised that long-term adult smokers are unlikely to quit without being offered a safer alternative that satisfies their craving for nicotine. “On smoking, the ‘swap to stop’ programme is trying something quite proactive … quite innovative”, he said. “There is such persuasive evidence from that programme and the schemes that we have done on a smaller scale…

Seven & I Holdings may have blamed overseas convenience store weakness for its disappointing quarterly result last week, but sources say this does not make it any less of a keen bidder for 7-Eleven Australia. Analysts believe low interest rates in Japan mean companies there remain under pressure to put money to work, making the earnings less of a factor than for other groups. Last week, it was reported that Seven & I Holdings missed expectations for its first quarter net profit, which fell 35 per cent due to weakness in its overseas-convenience and superstore businesses. It fell to 42.18 billion yen for the three months to May, despite first quarter revenue increasing 8.3 per cent. Operating profit for its overseas convenience-store business fell 52 per cent to 20.98 billion yen and that of its superstore business declined 5.8 per cent to 3.32 billion yen, while earnings grew for its…

FORTY FIVE LEADING TOBACCO TREATMENT, public health and addiction experts from Australia and New Zealand are urging lawmakers to listen to the Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ANACAD) ahead of Health Minister Mark Butler’s proposed vaping crackdown. In a letter sent to all state, territory and federal members of parliament today, Tuesday 18 July 2023, the experts fully endorsed the Council’s concerns about the proposed regulations The Council’s concerns were revealed earlier this month in emails released under the Freedom of Information Act by the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. The emails can be found here. None of the experts or Council members have any links with tobacco or e-cigarette companies. The Advisory Council’s view is that: The startling advice from ANACAD has so far been ignored by the Health Minister. The proposal crackdown will see the importation and sale of all vaping products banned except from pharmacies with a doctor’s…