Industry News

Rebecca Smithers June 26, 2012 The Age Supersize … a view of the newly constructed McDonald’s restaurant at the Olympic Park in east London. Would you like to supersize that? In a case of taking fast food to the extreme McDonald’s has embraced the pop-up restaurant trend for the 2012 Olympics by building a fast food restaurant of world record breaking size in Stratford, east London, that will last for six weeks. About 300m from the Olympic Stadium, it will displace Pushkin Square in Moscow as the world’s busiest and is expected to serve an estimated 50,000 Big Mac burgers and 180,000 portions of fries – feeding 1200 customers an hour at its busiest – from the beginning of the Olympics to the closing of the Paralympics. Once the Games are concluded the two-storey chalet-style building in the Olympic Park will be dismantled and 75 per cent of it re-used…

June 26, 2012 The Age The number of online orders to Australian businesses increased by almost a third during the 2010-11 financial year. The Australian Bureau of Statistics research released on Tuesday showed that local businesses received online orders worth $189 billion in the 12 months to June 30, 2011, an increase of $46 billion, or 32 per cent, on the previous corresponding period. However, the data also showed that only 28 per cent of business said they had received orders via the internet, a mere 13 per cent increase on the previous year. In contrast, more than half of businesses in Australia, 51 per cent, reported placing orders for goods and services on the internet in last financial year, up nine per cent in the previous year, ABS data showed. In another troubling sign, just below 40 per cent of business reported ‘‘some form of innovative activity’’ in 2010-11,…

CSNews 27 June 2012 NEW YORK — The New York Association of Convenience Stores (NYACS) is banding together with seven tobacco companies to try to overturn a ban on the display of tobacco products in the village of Haverstraw, N.Y. NYACS, Lorillard Tobacco Co., Philip Morris USA Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co., American Snuff Co. LLC, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Brands Inc., and John Middleton Co. filed a lawsuit yesterday in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York. The local law, which passed in April and would go into effect in October, bans the display of all tobacco products. Retailers would provide customers with a printed tobacco menu. NYACS and the tobacco companies described the ban as “a straightforward assault on the content of cigarette advertising and promotion” that violates their First Amendment right to free speech and asked the court to declare…

June 28, 2012 The Age Grocery wholesaler Metcash said it would raise $325 million with the funds to be used to expand in automotive parts and to purchase the rest of hardware group Mitre 10. The company also revealed a full-year profit of $90 million, less than the $135.9 million expected by analysts according to Bloomberg. The annual result was also down 63 per cent on a year earlier, with the company blaming the cost of restructuring its operations and the acquisition of Franklins for the drop. Metcash shares are in a trading halt and last changed hands at $3.74. The company said the price of the new shares would hinge on demand. The Australian Financial Review earlier reported the price would be in the range of $3.46-$3.56, implying a discount of as much as 7.5 per cent on its last price. Metcash will pay a final dividend of 16.5…

June 29, 2012 The Age GROCERY wholesaler Metcash ticked all the wrong boxes yesterday. It delivered a full-year profit that was below expectations, it announced plans to buy a non-core business and it decided to raise capital in a shabby equities market. To make matters worse, Metcash is also feeling the increased financial heat from legacy deals – having to write off loans and investments in supermarket retail joint ventures. This is a company in the middle of an exercise in reinvention. But it’s a process that is being undertaken in a very difficult environment. In the midst of all this the company’s chief executive, Andrew Reitzer, needs to explain why his $215 million acquisition of Franklins is taking longer than expected to gain traction and reap the promised returns. Investors would be justified in questioning whether Metcash overpaid for what is essentially an investment in creating a monopoly in…

Jane Harper Herald Sun June 29, 2012 GROCERY wholesaler Metcash is seeking an immense cash injection to bankroll an acquisition spree following a dramatic slide in profitability. The group, which supplies groceries to IGA supermarkets, will raise up to $375 million by issuing new shares. It will use funds to buy out hardware store Mitre 10 and fund other acquisitions. It comes after restructuring costs sent the group’s full-year profit plummeting 63 per cent. Metcash chief executive Andrew Reitzer said the new acquisitions played to the company’s strengths. He rejected suggestions from retail analysts that Metcash was diversifying to prop up its food and grocery business, which recorded sales growth of just 2 per cent amid a testing environment. “There’s nothing wrong with the IGA business,” Mr Reitzer said. “Our supermarket business would be the envy of many companies around the world.” He said the sustained price war between Coles…