Weekly Round-Up… 20 November, 2018

By Publications Checkout
Weekly Round-Up… 20 November, 2018

Bushmills Irish Whiskey will present the latest instalment of the #BlackBushStories event series this month, ‘Black Bush Alight’. The events showcase and celebrate the stories of Irish talent who have followed their passion and become champions in their chosen field. The creative force behind the Bearded Candle Makers, Irish-born Michael Morris, has partnered with Bushmills Irish Whiskey to create a limited-edition winter candle and to host a hands-on workshop at Drury Buildings in Dublin across two nights on 27th and 28th November.

Bord Bia is teaming up with the main farm organisations over the coming months to support farmers in the Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS) prepare for their on-farm audits. This follows the roll-out last year of an e-learning portal which provides dairy farmers with the key points to address when preparing for these audits, which are a vital component of Ireland's national food sustainability programme Origin Green.

SIPTU representatives on Friday called on management in the Coca-Cola plant in Ballina, County Mayo, to fully implement a Labour Court recommendation recognising the right of the workers in the plant to collective trade union representation. SIPTU Industrial Organiser, Denis Gormalley, said: “The Labour Court has recommended in favour of SIPTU’s claim to have negotiation rights for workers in the concentrate manufacturing facility. However, management has refused to implement the recommendation.”

Childrens’ health campaigners and teachers in the UK have joined forces to urge the government to set its proposed ban in England on the sale of energy drinks to youngsters at 18 rather than 16. The Children’s Food Campaign, the British Dietetic Association and the Action on Sugar campaign group, believe an under-18 ban would be the most effective way to help schools and colleges tackle behavioural issues linked to drinking the high-caffeine fizzy drinks, which include Red Bull and Monster Energy.

Walmart Inc reported better-than-expected quarterly U.S. comparable sales on Thursday and raised its earnings outlook for the year as a strong economy boosted customer store visits and more grocery offerings helped e-commerce purchases. The stock rose nearly 1% to $102.48. Sales at U.S. stores open at least a year rose 3.4% in the third quarter, excluding fuel price fluctuations, higher than analysts' estimates of a 2.87% increase.

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Hostess Brands, whose products include the iconic Twinkies snack cake, paid an initial cash payment of $23.9m (€21.1m) for the Cloverhill facility in Chicago, which was previously owned by Swiss-Irish baking company Aryzta, and the Big Texas and Cloverhill brands, it noted in recently-released financial results.

Q3 2018 revenue increased for IPL Plastics by 7.4% to $169.2 million, compared to $157.5 million in Q3 2017. The increase was primarily driven by continued organic volume growth and price increases in all three of the Company’s divisions, particularly the Consumer Packaging Solutions (“CPS”) and Returnable Packaging Solutions (“RPS”) divisions. Gross profit declined to $28.0 million in Q3 2018, compared to $32.6 million in Q3 2017, and its margin for Q3 2018 was 16.6%, compared to 20.7% in Q3 2017.

Compass Group reported a 7.1% rise in full-year profit today as cost-cutting efforts at one of the world's biggest catering firm paid off and it raised prices. The caterer has been cutting food, labour and overhead expenses to boost profit, but operating margin remained flat at 7.4% due to lower volumes and higher costs at its UK business.

© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition. 

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