The Federation of Wholesale Distributors has condemned the Competition Commission's final report after its inquiry into the grocery market.

Accrington-based Nield Group has gone into administration. Joint administrators Bill Dawson and Ian Brown, from the Manchester office of Deloitte & Touche, were appointed on April 11.

Today's Group has stepped up its presence in the foodservice sector with the recruitment of the Caterforce group into membership

Palmer and Harvey has won a £25m annual contract to supply Tesco's One Stop group of c-stores with medium- and long-life chilled products.

Makro is investing in a new range of own brand catering products, working alongside its customers to source, develop and test them.

As the wholesale sector and major suppliers planned to deploy record numbers of staff helping independent retailers to celebrate National Independents' Week (NIW) beginning on June 2, the My Shop Is Your Shop campaign held a media and ideas forum for leading retailer activists.

Creed Catering Suppliers has acquired fruit, vegetable and speciality foods wholesaler Mise en Place.

DBC Foodservice has announced a series of new business wins, and contract extensions worth a further £15m.

CJ Lang & Son says central distribution of fresh produce from its temperature-controlled depot in Dundee has really taken off and has generated £1.7m in turnover in the first year, with more than 250,000 cases sold to Spar retailers in Scotland.

A survey of 1,000 retailers has shown there is a greater than ever awareness and uptake of Unilever UK's Partners for Growth, the category management programme it set up in 2003.

The special promotion to celebrate Batleys' 50th year as a cash and carry entered its final three-week promotion period this week and Bestway says it is set to break all records for the group.

The fat lady has sung at last, bringing down the final curtain on the soap opera that has been the Competition Commission Inquiry into the UK grocery market - and the finale turned out to be as disappointing as the previous acts in this long-running saga.

Makro is aiming to increase its recycling rates with a new contract with Severnside Recycling.

Confex says renewed drive within the business helped to increase turnover by 10% in 2007 compared with the previous year.

Wholesalers and suppliers increased their activity in support of National Independents' Week NIW) beginning on June 2. Nestle and CCE were notably active, the latter by distributing a My Shop Is Your Shop (MSYS) presenter with NIW price promotion information to 40,000 independent retailers throughout the UK.

Musgrave Retail Partners GB has promoted Daniel Quest to the new position of business development director.

Parfetts Cash & Carry in Halifax has appointed Mark Holt to the senior management team as the depot's new senior buyer.

Nisa-Today's has appointed Deborah Broddle as its first human resources manager.

* Job title: trading controller

Batleys Cash and Carry Group celebrated its 50th anniversary with a dinner and awards ceremony at York Racecourse attended by more than 650 people including retired staff.

Dhamecha Foods and JW Filshill repeated last year's triumphs at the Today's Group's annual awards dinner at the Chesford Grange Hotel, Kenilworth.

The Confectioners Benevolent Funds annual Candy Ball raised over £210,000 for the charity.

May

INSPIRED. This paragraph is beyond the ken and the grasp of the oh-so-predictable Competition Commission (CC), which is happily making its contribution to the ongoing diminishment of communities by cosying up to the multiples.

We know that three to five independent retailers go out of business every day. We also know standards are rising (with more supermarkets and established grocers entering the sector) meaning independents almost have "to run to stand still". It therefore comes as no surprise that many retailers (18%) have considered selling their business in the last 12 months.

Thousands of independent retailers were alerted to the My Shop Is Your Shop (MSYS) campaign and National Independents' Week (begins June 2) when they visited the Convenience Retailing Show at the NEC and the P&H sponsored Pro Retail, at Telford, in April.

Independent retailers are already ordering their free NIW 08 T-shirt packs consisting of the iconic yellow "Local And Proud Of It" T-shirts, caps, balloons, stickers and POS.

MSYS retailer activists David Kirwin and Linda Williams brought the annual FWD conference to life with their support for the MSYS campaign.

Simply by better displaying their spirits, Gurpreet and Baljit Sahni, owners of Lucky's Store in Armley, Leeds, have seen their spirits sales increase by 19%. Lucky's Store was nominated to the FWD Take Home Blueprint scheme by their wholesaler Batley's, as retailers who were in need of some help with the merchandising of their off licence section.

Aberaman Convenience Stores in Abadare, South Wales, has seen a dramatic increase in its off licence sales, including a 21% rise in cider sales, following an FWD Take Home Blueprint makeover.

Industry leaders told the FWD Annual Conference that there are ways wholesalers and customers can compete in today's market. John Wood and Katie Davies report

Booker's group commercial director Bryan Drew provided advice for suppliers wanting to work closely with his company.

Turnover at Landmark Wholesale exceeded £2bn for the first time last year, its new marketing director Ian Davidson revealed. He described this achievement as a real milestone for the business.

Independents finished third in a league table of retailers performance over the Christmas period last year, according to data from Nielsen.

Wholesalers should help independent retailers keep up with developments in the market and best practice, according to Rodney Hunt, managing director of Today's Group.

Good independents are seeing the opportunities and developing retail stores where other businesses have pulled out, said Bestway's business development controller James Hall.

Cigarettes are the second most common reason for visiting a convenience store, Gallaher's head of communications, Jeremy Blackburn said, citing HIM 2006 data.

Too few wholesalers have a thorough understanding of their customers, according to Scott Wharton, supply chain director of Musgrave Retail Partners GB.

A cash and carry must deliver a quality service, offer great value, drive innovation, provide differentiation and provide the right merchandise, according to Steve Barnett, trading director of Costco.

Speaking shortly before the announcement of the Competition Commission's final report, David Greene said it had been a disappointing inquiry from the independent sector's point of view.

The UK convenience grocery category is worth over £4bn and is growing at a rate of more than 6% per year, according to Heinz customer business development manager Simon Digby.

Until recently the involvement of Premier in catering was primarily as an own label producer, but all that is changing. After rapid growth including the acquisition of Campbell's and RHM, Premier Foods has grown to be the largest food producer in the UK with a host of well known retail brands, and some of these brands also have substantial sales in foodservice, with McDougalls, at £33.3m, and Bisto, at £14.4m, contributing to total sales in foodservice of more than £150m.

The British population can be rightly proud of its heritage of continuing a long-held tradition of welcoming immigrants to the UK from across the world. As those immigrants have settled everyday facets of their lives, including food, have become an integrated part of British life as well.

Heinz Foodservice has launched a range of ready to use Best of British flavours.

AAK has introduced Prep Palm to offer a complete frying solution that aims to deliver quality and performance.

The Authentic Food Company has expanded its Mediterranean range with a new Gnocchi and an upgraded Salmon in Chardonnay Sauce.

Unilever Foodsolutions is offering chefs the chance to claim £25 flight vouchers.

Soya Health Foods has extended its Sunrise soya range with the launch of Sunrise Café Expert.

Drinksummit, the annual beer, wines and spirits conference organised by the Federation of Wholesale Distributors, has gone from strength to strength since its launch in 1989 and is now seen as an agenda-setting event in the drinks calendar.

The soft drinks category grew 2.4% in value in 2007 despite challenging market conditions, according to the Britvic Soft Drinks Report 2008.

While many shoppers stock up on food for their pets at supermarkets in the same way as they do for the rest of their family, c-stores still account for one in every £6 spent in the £1.7bn petfood market.

Cadbury Trebor Bassett is launching Cadbury Creme Egg Twisted to provide the Creme Egg experience all year round.

Yoplait has brought back the Doctor Who character licence on its limited edition Frubes.

Ferrero has launched Bueno White, a white chocolate version of Bueno.

Kepak Convenience Foods (KCF) has launched a range of permanently price-marked packs of Rustlers hot snacks.

Wilkinson Sword has launched its Intuition Plus Natural Care with Milk & Honey.

R&R Ice Cream is investing £1m behind its ice lobby brand, Fab, this year.

Mars has teamed Galaxy with the Sex and the City film.

Kettle Chips is bringing back its Mexican Limes with a hint of Chilli seasoning for the summer.

Branston has launched Soya Bean and Chick Pea ranges.

Budweiser will be backing its 'True dedication' brand campaign with activity in the wholesale channel.

Heineken is launching a new TV and cinema advert in its 'Use your continental head' campaign.

Diageo is extending its category-wide campaign to highlight spirit and mixer serves. The 'Refreshing Tastes for Long Summer Days' campaign will see menu collarettes, which contain a guide to summer drinks, introduced across a selection of spirit brands, including Smirnoff and Gordon's.

Merrydown is reinforcing its premium cider credentials in the cash and carry sector by moving from shrink wrap outers into cardboard. The new 6x1 litre boxes are printed in full colour and include a replica of the bottle for instant recognition.

monday