Milling & Baking News - February 17, 2004 - 4

T H I S

W E E K

February 17, 2004
Vol. 82, No. 51

NEWSCOMMENT

Merger mania
reappears, but
rumors denied

Make mine trans-free!
Story on Page 23

12

McDonald's adds Protein Platters in Canada
In response to the growing high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet trend, the
Canadian division of the world's largest fast-food company introduced the new
menu items as part of its Healthy Lifestyles consumer wellness campaign.

13

Canada, U.S. take differing stance on ruling

19

New products boost sales at Frito-Lay

21

Tasty Baking Co. reports another annual loss

38

Donut entrepreneur, philanthropist dies

U.S. wheat industry ofﬁcials said their side came out ahead in a recent ruling
issued by a World Trade Organization panel concerning an ongoing trade dispute
with Canada. But Canadian ofﬁcials claimed victory, too.

The largest U.S. snack foods maker said fourth-quarter sales of its snack bars
grew at a double-digit rate on a percentage basis, primarily because two new
products introduced in the previous quarter enjoyed strong early success.

The 2003 loss for the Philadelphia-based baker narrowed to $2.36 million from $4.34
million in the previous year, even as sales fell 2%. The company's chief executive
said 2004 marks a year in which the company must "put points on the board."

Harold Price, who died in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 95, founded and ran
successful donut businesses that eventually merged in the mid-1960s with
Consolidated Foods Corp., the forerunner of Sara Lee Corp.

Editorial
7
Late news
8
Business
9
Export and trade issues 14
Data 16

EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor-in-chief
Morton I. Sosland
Editor
Gordon L. Davidson
Executive editor, markets
Neil N. Sosland
Executive editor
L. Joshua Sosland
Senior editor, markets
Jay S. Sjerven
AuditBureau
of Circulations

New on the market
Financial results
People
Supplier innovations
Archive

17
18
38
48
54

Associate editor, grain and milling
Associate publisher
Eric J. Schroeder
G. Michael Gude
Associate editor
Vice-president, chief ﬁnancial ofﬁcer
Lyle C. Niedens
Melanie Hepperly
Assistant editors
Director of manufacturing
Meyer Sosland
Vance Spearman
Jeff Gelski
Director of circulation
Ron Sterk
Gwendolyn Cogshell
Editorial designer, market graphics, data
Director of design services
Christina Sullivan
Sadowna McClun
Feature designer
Circulation manager
Sarah Hill
Sheryl Morrow
Director of distribution
PUBLISHING STAFF
Gary Humbert
Chairman
Digital systems analyst
Charles S. Sosland
Marj Potts
Vice-chairman
Advertising Design and trafﬁcking
L. Joshua Sosland
Becky White
President and publisher
Marketing communications
Mark Sabo
coordinator/reprint manager
Carrie Land

4 / Milling & Baking News, February 17, 2004

Even though the hostile Comcast bid to
acquire Walt Disney Co. is far removed
from the food business, an overture of that
size - estimated to have a value, including
debt, near $66 billion - could not help
but stir speculation about possibilities in
other ﬁelds. The most immediate rumor
came from Europe, that Nestle might be
on the verge of trying to acquire Danone,
which would join two of Europe's largest
food companies. Such possibility was
immediately denied by the Danone chief
executive, Franck Riboud.
Yet, it is interesting that the move by
Comcast, the leading cable company,
was attributed to the weakened ﬁnancial
position of Michael Eisner, Disney head,
who has been facing criticism for the
company's results. Mr. Riboud, as he
denied the Nestle rumors, revealed that
Danone proﬁts in the past ﬁscal year fell by
35% from the prior year, even though sales
showed a 10% gain.
Of interest was his disclosure that sales
of Danone's biscuit business were ﬂat with
the prior year, and that he was studying "all
options" in regard to the biscuit business,
which provides nearly 25% of total sales.
"We are in a phase of reﬂection over our
biscuits," he said. "If there is no growth in
a year, we will see then what we will do."
In addition to ﬂat sales, biscuit division
operating proﬁts decreased 12% to €280
million ($358 million). Even with those
results, Danone's biscuit operations were
viewed as being highly proﬁtable. MBN

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2004 by Sosland Publishing Co. All rights reserved.
Sosland Publishing Co., a division of Sosland Companies, Inc.

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Milling & Baking News - February 17, 2004

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