Food & Beverages

Corona Capital: Playboy, Mondelez

21 September 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: The owner of perhaps the most famous adult magazine is hoping a SPAC can give it a new lease on life; Mondelez wants to expand its range of healthy snacks – but they’re not always the best money spinners.

New lockdowns will amp up next phase of booze war

21 September 2020

Alcohol is in the cross hairs as Britain eyes harsher measures to stem infections. Outright prohibition is unlikely but even temporary bar closures will add to the pain of Diageo, Bud and others. As other countries may follow, their buoyant shares are heading for a hangover.

Moutai ladles out value from its punch bowl

18 September 2020

China’s liquor titan is issuing $2.2 bln of bonds to help buy a highway operator from a struggling local government. The ludicrous diversification erased $10 bln from its enormous market cap. It’s a sobering reminder of how the country’s listed companies can be called to serve.

Corona Capital: Newspaper rivals, College football

17 September 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: the Wall Street Journal hits up the New York Times’ printing presses; U.S. college football’s Big Ten makes a comeback.

Corona Capital: Kraft Heinz, U.S. poverty

15 September 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: The food giant is boosting advertising outlays, even as it continues cutting costs; and the poverty rate in the United States hit a low at the end of 2019, according to new data, only to run into a Covid reversal.

Corona Capital: Amazon, NYC and Trump

14 September 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Amazon’s hiring boom highlights its weakness, and U.S. President Donald Trump could throw New York City a bone.

Corona Capital: Testing, Flights, Football

10 September 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: U.S. lab-testing group Quest announces speedy growth; IAG’s gloomy horizons have a silver lining; and NFL football comes charging back.

Corona Capital: Bumble IPO, SPACs

2 September 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: The Blackstone-backed dating site may be eyeing an $8 bln valuation if it goes public next year, more than twice its pre-virus price tag. Ex-MGM exec Harry Sloan adds online gaming to his blank-check company empire.

Nestlé’s $2.6 bln peanut hedge boosts health creds

31 August 2020

The $348 bln Swiss giant is buying allergy treatment firm Aimmune. It makes the first approved product for food allergies to the nut. The ingredient isn’t prominent in its portfolio, so CEO Mark Schneider will essentially get a lift from making rivals’ products more accessible.

Chinese beverage IPO turns water into beer

31 August 2020

Nongfu Spring, the country’s answer to Evian, is being valued at about $31 bln, or a bubbly 41 times profit. That’s less akin to its closest consumer peers and more like brewers such as Tsingtao. Markets and China are recovering, but there’s also some glass-half-full thinking.

Delivery Hero M&A feast is DAX-doubtful

27 August 2020

The $18 billion food delivery company is buying its way into new, unproven businesses. It just replaced the fraudulent Wirecard in the German blue-chip index, not usually the home of unprofitable and highly acquisitive startups. Expect some adventures.

China picks lazy solution to food crisis

24 August 2020

Floods, a pig epidemic and more have delivered sustained double-digit inflation of edible goods. A crackdown on wasteful dining tackles corruption more than high prices: poor people are not overeating. A better agrarian policy and a truce in trade wars would be more powerful fixes.

Corona Capital: Europe’s recovery, Indian selloffs

21 August 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: The latest economic reports from Britain, France and Germany paint a patchy picture; and why the virus will hinder New Delhi’s asset-sale programme.

Corona Capital: Vegan eggs, Target’s online fiesta

19 August 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: A maker of chicken-free egg products accelerates its IPO plans amid Covid-19, while U.S. supermarket group Target shows that preparedness is everything in e-commerce.

Corona Capital: Champagne, Canada, College chaos

18 August 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Champagne growers cut production; Canada’s finance minister quits over stimulus costs; and some American universities are collecting tuition fees before telling students that in-person classes can’t happen.

Diageo’s star power success will be hard to repeat

17 August 2020

The $80 bln alcohol giant is hoping Ryan Reynolds’ gin can copy the feat of George Clooney’s tequila, which grew 68% in a year. U.S. imbibers, who tend to drink the group’s spirits at home, are a good target. But the deal hinges on them stumping up just as wallets are squeezed.

Long-shot Dutch exit tax is warning for Unilever

13 August 2020

Lawmakers in the Netherlands want to charge the Dove maker an exit fee for unifying its head office in London. The proposal, which would cost Unilever 11 bln euros, may not be legally or politically viable. Still, it’s a reminder that chasing efficiency risks a public backlash.

Corona Capital: “Halo”, Salesforce, Brooks Bros

12 August 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Microsoft delays the next chapter of the “Halo” game franchise; Salesforce gets a lockdown bonus with sale of Zoom shares; and Simon Property suits up with a purchase of Brooks Brothers out of bankruptcy.

Corona Capital: Junked cans

11 August 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: An aluminum company with a junk rating issues debt with a ridiculously low interest rate.

Corona Capital: U.S. Jobs, Drugs

7 August 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: More Americans went back to work in July, though it’s a slowdown from June and Washington is still dithering over job relief aid; and President Trump wants to bring pharmaceutical production back home.