The world's biggest brewer, AB InBev, which makes Budweiser, Corona, and Stella Artois beers, along with car rental giants Hertz and Avis, and the shares of European airlines became the latest high-profile casualties of the coronavirus fallout.

Irish company Poppulo said it's aiming for 30% annual growth over the next five years as it eyes further expansion in the internal communications sector.

Six months after Unilever’s Alan Jope suggested he may get rid of brands without “purpose”, investors are wondering when he will deliver.

US drugmaker AbbVie’s $63bn (€57bn) tie-up with Allergan is getting help from Nestlé and AstraZeneca buying up products the Irish-domiciled company is shedding to placate regulators.

Pre-tax profits at Wyeth Nutritionals based in Co Limerick which sells baby food formula to China fell 11.5% to $11m (€9.8m) last year.

Danone, already struggling with falling yoghurt sales as consumers shift to vegan alternatives, is getting hit by a decline in its bottled-water business.

While plastic, which is polluting the seas, may take 1,000 years to decompose, the production of aluminium creates far more carbon dioxide, so cans are problematic, too, says Eric Onstad

Nestle plans to return as much as €18bn to shareholders by 2022 and indicated an appetite for acquisitions to help chief executive Mark Schneider sustain faster growth and better profit margins.

Reckitt Benckiser cut its full-year revenue target, after lower-than-expected sales in its last quarter under long-time chief executive, Rakesh Kapoor, hurt by a surprise slowdown in demand for infant formula in China.

More than 200 of the world’s largest listed companies forecast that climate change could cost them a combined total of almost $1trn (€890bn), with much of the pain due in the next five years, according to a report.

Irish software company Poppulo plans to create 125 jobs at its Cork headquarters as part of an international expansion that will almost double its workforce within three years.

THE future for software development in Ireland has never looked brighter, with companies of all sizes from multinationals to indigenous start-ups steadily expanding.

Irish internal communications software company Poppulo plans to create 125 jobs as part of an international expansion that will almost double its workforce within three years.

Bastien Peyraud has been appointed as general manager of the Imperial Hotel, Cork, part of the Flynn Hotels group.

Roz Crowley and her three helpers put a selection of tasty Easter eggs to the test

Drinks group Pernod Ricard, which is being targeted by activist investor Elliott, is banking that its push into socially and environmentally sound business practices will boost its growth in the coming decade.

The race to meet rising demand for vegetarian meals is heating up as Nestle unveiled plans to introduce its soy-protein-based burgers across Europe and the US this year.

So that’s Wednesday nearly wrapped up. Here are some of today's top stories which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

Here's your lunchtime bulletin.

Nestle chairman Paul Bulcke says he would not pursue short-term efforts at the expense of long-term success, in the face of scrutiny from shareholder activists who know how to “pressure-point you and tease.”

Cork-based tech company Poppulo has raised €30 million in funding from US venture capital firm Susquehanna Growth Equity (SGE) as it looks to boost its presence in overseas markets.

The debate has become especially heated since a Christmas advert by Iceland – which dramatises the link between palm oil, deforestation and the death of orangutans - was banned from being broadcast in the UK.

Coca-Cola has agreed to buy coffee chain Costa for £3.9bn (€4.4bn) to extend its push into healthier drinks and take on the likes of Starbucks and Nestle in the booming global coffee market.

After a cyber attack and a botched product launch spoiled Reckitt Benckiser’s 2017, a pricing squeeze threatens to make this year almost as tough.

French foods group Danone is to sell a €1.5bn stake in Japanese company Yakult in its latest initiative to boost shareholder returns.

The world cannot respond adequately to rising temperatures if governments continue ignoring how forests, farms, and coasts are managed, writes Justin Adams.

Nestle, the world’s largest packaged food firm, said it would reorganise its infant nutrition business to improve performance, five months after the new CEO listed the category as one of its priorities for growth.

A Spanish union representing Nestle workers is pushing back against calls for a boycott of Catalan products, saying that punishing a major employer in the region with separatist ambitions could backfire on the country’s economy.

Ireland’s €1.2bn infant formula industry has been accused of exploiting fears among vulnerable populations to gain market share and adding unnecessary extra ingredients purely to charge a premium price.

Unilever has reported disappointing third-quarter sales having lost market share to smaller rivals, dampening hopes that a failed takeover bid by Kraft Heinz would spark a swift improvement in performance.

Unilever has reported disappointing third-quarter sales having lost market share to smaller rivals, dampening hopes that a failed takeover bid by Kraft Heinz would spark a swift improvement in performance.

Danone’s sales of baby milk formula in China rose strongly in the third quarter, beating forecasts and sending the French food company’s shares to a record high. 

Even as Catalonia serves a reminder that political risks remain, the eurozone’s year of living dangerously is turning out well for the economy.

Nestle plans to switch in or out of businesses with combined sales of almost 10bn Swiss francs (€8.7bn) as chief executive Mark Schneider focuses on coffee, bottled water, and pet care to prioritise profitability over scale.

Shares in beauty group L’Oreal surged the most in seven years on speculation that the death of the founding family’s matriarch, Liliane Bettencourt, could clear up the cosmetics maker’s ownership through a takeover or a buyback.

Nestle has said it will defend claims in a new lawsuit in which Atari accused the Swiss food company of pilfering its classic 1970s video game Breakout to help sell Kit Kat bars.

Over the past decade, a little-known herb 200 times sweeter than sugar has become a €3.5bn global industry, showing up in everything from Coca-Cola drinks to Heinz ketchup.

Corvex Management, the activist fund run by Keith Meister, has built a stake in French yogurt maker Danone because it views the company as significantly undervalued, according to sources.

Outgoing Kerry Group boss Stan McCarthy yesterday pointed to bright times ahead for the Tralee-based diversified food group, as he prepared to formally hand the running of the company over to chief executive designate Edmond Scanlon.

Campaigners have branded the decision of some food manufacturers not to use a colour-coded labelling system on cereals as "scandalous".

Drinks giant Diageo has reported that net sales in Ireland were flat during its last financial year, but has increased medium-term group profit targets and announced a £1.5bn (€1.7bn) share buyback programme, writes Geoff Percival,