Palmer and Harvey and Makro have joined forces to form PalMak, a new buying group, which will begin operating with immediate effect.

The owner of a wholesale company is standing in the General Election in order to draw attention to the threat to his company posed by the 2012 Olympic Games.

Makro has joined him! research & consulting’s Cash & Carry Caterer Tracking Programme.

Landmark Wholesale is continuing to grow sales despite the challenging trading conditions. Figures for March show sales from its members depots were up overall by 3% and year to date sales are up by 5.1%.

FWD has linked up with the UK's top-selling newspaper, The Sun, to promote National Independents' Week.

Booker's Premier symbol group has topped 2,500 stores for the first time and will be celebrating with its biggest ever promotion worth £1m.

DBC Foodservice has announced three new contracts worth a total of around £12m a year.

Musgrave Foodservices has become the 20th member of Fairway Foodservice, increasing the group's collective turnover to just under £250m a year.

3663 has won the multi-million pound contract to become the principal supplier of food and non-food products to ISS Facility Services Healthcare, and persuaded Burger King to reverse plans to end their distribution deal.

The Federation of Wholesale Distributors' decision to stage its annual conference slightly later than usual has placed it in the perfect position to set the agenda for the industry in the post election environment.

After months of a phony election war, the date has been set for the general election on May 6. With the polls tightening, and many predicting either a hung parliament or a barely workable majority, this promises to be the most exciting and hard-fought election campaign in recent memory.

Appleby Westward, the wholesaler for Spar in the south west, has opened its first company-owned convenience store.

Creed Foodservice has invested £30,000 in an energy saving Power Perfector system for its Cheltenham and Ikeston hubs.

Makro has added more than 25 food and non-food products to its Aro own brand range.

Improving operational efficiency was the focus of the first spring conference held by Country Range Group.

Bestway Group has been awarded the Asian Business of the Year award at the Eastern Eye Asian Business Awards. In the citation, read at the presentation, the award recognises the success the company has achieved since its inception to where it is today in breaking the £2bn turnover barrier. Pictured at the presentation are, from left: Zarir Cama, group general manager Group Management Office, HSBC Holdings; Sadiq Khan, minister of state for transport; David Miliband, secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs; and from Bestway Group, director Dawood Pervez, chief executive Zameer Choudrey, and managing director Younus Sheikh.

Booker has obtained the exclusive launch within wholesale of the Nestlé Confectionery Animal Bar in an impulse format.

Job title: senior negotiator

SalesOut, a provider of industry insight, has announced the appointment of Andrew Linehan as account manager foodservice division.

Premier Foods has made two new appointments, Mark Tyldesley as savoury business unit director and Domenico Speciale as grocery retail sales director.

Fairway Foodservice has promoted Kevin Denyer to the role of purchasing director for frozen and chilled foods.

Exhibitors and visitors have praised the Convenience Retailing Show, Food & Drink Expo and their associated shows, which took place at the NEC in Birmingham last month.

The speakers for this year's Scottish Wholesale Associations annual conference have been announced along with the theme of 'Onwards & Upwards'.

Pro-retail is returning for its 28th year with the aim of providing an opportunity for independent and multiple retailers to see the latest innovations in the trade.

There isn't a wholesaler in the land which doesn't pride itself on its service. People with disabilities who wish to use that service should be able to do so, to the same degree that fully able people are. There must be dozens if not hundreds of buildings, within and outside the sector, which are not compliant in this regard.

As our customers challenge us to go "green" we need to juggle the environment with the reality of operating a profitable, low margin business.

Loomis has unveiled three new Safepoint ranges.

Spedi Retail Software has launched Spedi Connect to enable independents who do not have EPOS scanning installations to link electronically with a wholesaler for setting up drop shipments.

Mitsubishi has launched the Grendia 1.5 to 5.5 tonne IC engine counterbalance.

Hyster has launched a new pallet truck.

All of the top players in the wholesale channel will be represented at the biggest conference in the trade's calendar, the FWD Annual Conference at the Forest of Arden Hotel on May 10-11.

Charles Wilson joined Booker for the second time, as chief executive, in November 2005, from Marks & Spencer where he was executive director for property, IT and supply chain.

Chris Etherington joined Palmer and Harvey in June 2006 as chief executive with more than 30 years experience in wholesale and retail distribution, following a position as managing director of the national after-market wholesaler Unipart Automotive.

As communications controller at 3663, Lindsay Winser is responsible for internal and external communications. This places her in a key position to understand the issues facing the industry.

Simon Harrison has been with the same company for 19 years as it developed through takeovers and mergers from Whitbread to AB InBev.

David Glennon, retailer services manager for Nielsen, will provide insights into the way the current FMCG market is responding to economic climate from superstore to local store.

Bill Laird joined the Today's Group as managing director just over a year ago in March 2009.

Chris Doyle joined Landmark Wholesale as its new business development director in January.

Dave Pogson, sales director UK of Cadbury, started his career in the food industry with Schweppes International, developing new products for Japan, after graduating in food science.

Mike Laney joined Imperial Tobacco in 2003 as national account manager in the forecourt sector before becoming head of channel distributive in 2006.

Marcus Vallance is CEO and Steve Collins is commercial director of SalesOut, a company working with wholesalers and foodservice companies to deliver insights into the market based on wholesale shipment data.

As the wholesale community gears up for National Independents' Week, the My Shop is Your Shop (MSYS) campaign which organises it has introduced some changes.

In the March issue of Wholesale News we illustrated the value of having a Vision Statement in your business and we identified that this statement should be seen in the minds of all those concerned throughout your business, as a bridge from the present to the future.

Elizabeth Shaw has added to its foodservice range with the launch of two new catering packs.

Nestlé Professional is offering its customers the chance to win a trip to Brazil with Nescafé

The Big Kitchen has introduced a frozen pâté range.

Snowbird Foods has launched Frozen Gourmet Sausages.

Major International has launched Meaty Beef and Vegetarian Savoury gravies.

According to folklore, if you've had a cold winter and a late spring, you'll get a hot summer. Whether or not this is the case for us this year is still to be seen, but if we could combine some hot weather with a good showing from the England squad then sales potential for barbecue products would be high.

Although the rest of the home countries drew a blank in competition for the World Cup Finals, England's involvement ensures there will be wall-to-wall coverage across all types of media in the first round at least. No wonder then that many brands, particularly in the impulse sector, are trying to associate themselves with the biggest sporting event of the summer.

The latest findings from him! research & consulting's Recession Track study show positive signs for the foodservice sector with the percentage of UK adults visiting a foodservice outlet in a typical week increasing steadily since September 2009. In particular there are more people saying they are visiting a restaurant, pub for food, fast food outlet and a coffee shop in a typical week.

The frozen food category deserves a massive pat on the pack. That's because the manufacturers involved have done a splendid job in communicating the benefits of frozen food against the backdrop of the worst recession in years. Their message has been clear frozen food represents value for money because consumers use only what they need and put the rest back in the freezer; and frozen food can be good for you, retaining many of the vitamins and minerals that can be lost in the storage and transportation of fresh food.

AG Barr has announced a year of marketing support for Rubicon, with a deal to sponsor a Summer of Cricket on Sky Sports.

Procter & Gamble has teamed Fairy Non Bio and Fairy Fabric Softener with Timmy Time.

Burton's Foods has launched a range of promotional packs across its best-selling ranges.

Ferrero is adding a new flavour to its Tic Tac range.

McCain will be giving away a prize every three minutes with its McCain Micro Chips 'Ping &Win!'.

Haribo has launched a hanging bag created specifically for vegetarian consumers.

Britvic has launched a new addition to its Robinsons range, Robinsons Select.

Wrigley is launching Starburst Tongue Tangles for the summer season.

Energizer has re-designed its packaging as part of its new portfolio approach.

Budweiser is supporting its sponsorship of the World Cup in South Africa with an on-pack promotion, 'Predict & Win', which will run across 10 million packs in the UK.

McEwan's Export has launched a promotion exclusive to the off-trade.

Thatchers Cider has brought Green Goblin Cider into its portfolio.

Distell has appointed drinks distributor Cellar Trends to handle UK distribution for its Amarula Cream Liqueur brand with effect from 1 July 2010.

ICB has extended its St Helier brand with the launch of two shandy variants and two additions to its St Helier Pear Cider line-up.

Booker has announced its total sales in the 52 weeks to March 26 were £3.4bn, up by 6.5% on the previous year. Like-for-like non-tobacco sales rose by 6.9%, while like-for-like tobacco sales increased by 5.8%. Like-for-like sales to caterers increased by 9.1% and retailers were up 5.3%. Internet sales increased by 62.8% to £407m.

DBC Foodservice has won a contract worth about £8m a year to supply a multi-temperature range of food to Barracuda Group’s nationwide pub and bar estate. This follows a three-month tendering process that involved eight foodservice suppliers.

Bestway Group chief executive Zameer Choudrey is among more than 20 business leaders who have called for a planned increase in National Insurance to be abandoned.

Caterfood, a Sterling Group member, has acquired Quality Cuisine South West.