A West Cork food brand, synonymous with the town of Clonakilty, has made a strategic site purchase, as part of a multi-million euro business development strategy.

Eight south Cork food and drink companies estimate that they gained a collective €500,000 in new UK sales from their attendance at the IFE 2013 food and drinks fair in London.

Eight leading Irish artisan food and drink producers hope to expand their export channels on foot of meetings with leading UK retailers in London yesterday.

Exports of Clonakilty black pudding to Britain are soaring — up 67% — growing from 1.5 tonnes to 2.5 tonnes every week.

The Musgrave Group has posted a pre-tax profit of €71m for 2011; 1% down on the previous year.

IN the final run-in to Christmas, business is booming at the Blue Haven Food Company as last-minute orders are readied for supermarket shelves around the country.

The North's Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster is seeking an urgent meeting over the Superquinn acquisition which threatens to leave companies in the North out of pocket.

DESPITE seeing its trading environment suffer in the past few years — particularly for its core Irish operations — the Musgrave Group has consistently talked up its ability to ride out the economic storm and build for its future growth.

MUSGRAVE will run the Superquinn chain of stores as a multiple, resulting in it going head-to-head with its main chain of owner operated SuperValu stores.

BUSINESS people are not involved enough in forming policy and influencing Government decisions.

SUPERMARKET supplier Musgrave has come under fire in Britain for allowing one of its franchise operators to sell squirrel meat.

THE Musgrave Group has said that it is well-placed to ride out the storm of the economic downturn, despite posting disappointing full-year results for 2009, including a 3% fall in sales and a 7% decline in pre-tax profits.

MUSGRAVE Group, owners of the SuperValu and Centra franchises, slashed €140 million off retail prices last year as the recession hit consumer confidence.

BRITISH farmers have joined their Irish counterparts in an attack on low Irish beef prices.

UK supermarket chain Waitrose continued its recent expansion today by announcing an agreement to acquire four sites from Woolworths.

Musgrave Group have today announced its ninth year of consecutive profit growth for the year ended December 2007, with sales of €4.9bn up 6% and profit before tax of €49m up 16%.

Salmon withdrawn from sale in the UK amid contamination fears may have been tainted by diesel from a boat, the supplier said today.

Ireland’s biggest food and grocery distributor announced today the acquisition of J&J Haslett, the major food wholesaler and cash and carry business in the North.

SALES at Musgrave Group rose 4.5% to €4.6 billion last year making it the main challenger to Tesco in the Irish grocery market.

Chocolate retailer Thorntons today reported a slump in profits as it announced chief executive Peter Burdon was to step down.

Chocolate retailer Thorntons boosted hopes for a trading turnaround today after reporting an improvement in the rate of its sales decline.

The SuperValu/Centra chains are due for further expansion in this country with an extra 20 stores opening by the year’s end, Musgrave Group chief executive Chris Martin has disclosed to the Evening Echo.

MUSGRAVE have reported a 20% rise in profits on the back of strong sales at its Irish convenience stores.

Tesco is poised to overtake all its smaller rivals in the UK to become the largest operator of convenience stores this year, research showed today.

MUSGRAVE Group, which paid a dividend of €12.17 million to shareholders last year, is worth at least €447 million, accounts filed with the Companies Registration Office indicate.

Pizzas, baked beans and canned spaghetti containing high levels of salt were named and shamed by the UK’s food watchdog today.

MUSGRAVE Group saw a 3% rise in profits last year to €59.3 million.

Musgrave Group today announced plans to open 40 new Centra and 10 new SuperValu stores between now and the end of the year.

Nearly 2,000 shopkeepers in the Londis convenience store chain were tonight each looking forward to a £31,000 (€46,633) payout after they voted overwhelmingly in favour of a £60m (€90m) takeover.

Londis shopkeepers were today due to give their verdict on a £60m (€90m) takeover bid for the convenience store business from Irish retail giant Musgrave.

The Co-op is set to unveil a £66m (€100m) offer for convenience store business Londis in a bid to scupper a deal by Budgens owner Musgrave, it was reported today.

MUSGRAVE'S plans to take over British retail chain Londis received a setback over the weekend when the owner of the Iceland food chain signalled it may be preparing a counter-bid to challenge the Cork-based group's €90 million offer.

THE Musgrave Group has upped its bid for Londis in Britain by €30 million to €90m in an attempt to achieve its goal of becoming the biggest supplier to independent retail grocers in Ireland and Britain.

THE Musgrave Group is expected to recoup a large portion of the €270 million it spent on acquiring British symbol retail grocery chain Budgens in 2002 when it sells off 172 shops in Britain.

IRISH consumers are being fleeced by British chain stores whose prices here are almost 20% higher than they are in Britain, Fine Gael claimed yesterday.

Cork-based Musgrave group is set to add 27 new stores to its UK-based Budgens grocery chain this year

CASH & carry group Musgrave said it is still interested in acquiring the Londis operation in Britain.

MUSGRAVES ambitious 57 million takeover of the Londis operation in Britain may face a challenge from the rival Nisa-Today’s, a rival convenience store supplier group.

IRELAND’s largest food distributor — Musgrave Group plc — has made a surprise €57m bid for Londis in Britain, which has a turnover of more than €1.4bn.

Food distributor Musgrave has made a €57m offer for the British stores of convenience retail group Londis.

Musgrave Group Limited have reported pre-tax profits for the 12 months to December 2002 of €57.6m, a 22% increase on the €47.1m recorded for 2001.

The FTSE 100 index is down 67.5 points at 4512.8 - its lowest since September 21.

Musgrave has made a £231.6m (€360m) offer for Budgens.