– Galen G. Weston has been appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of George Weston Limited. Mr. Weston will continue in his role as Chairman and CEO of Loblaw.

– Paviter S. Binning will be leaving George Weston and has been appointed Special Advisor to the Weston family at its private company Wittington Investments, Limited.

– Luc Mongeau has been appointed President, Weston Foods.

– Sarah Davis has been appointed President, Loblaw.

Galen G. Weston became Chairman of George Weston last September, succeeding his father W. Galen Weston, who stepped down at the age of 75 after over four decades leading George Weston. With his appointment today as Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Weston succeeds Pavi Binning, who will become special advisor to Wittington Investments, Limited, owned by the Weston family. Mr. Binning will step down from the George Weston and Loblaw boards of directors.

“Pavi has played a pivotal role in shaping the company’s strategic direction,” Mr. Weston said, “and he has provided strong support through the leadership succession process which we have just completed. Our family looks forward to continuing to benefit from his valuable experience and insight with our other business interests.”

Mr. Binning said, “After seven successful years at George Weston, I am looking forward to continuing to support the Weston family in other areas.”

Luc Mongeau, newly appointed President of Weston Foods, is a seasoned consumer goods executive with extensive branding, product development, operations and P&L management experience in food, chocolate and petcare categories. Over a 15-year career at Mars, his roles included leading the Canadian business, Mars Petcare’s multi-billion dollar North American business and setting the global strategic and marketing direction for some of Mars’ leading Petcare brands.

Mr. Weston said, “Luc is a high-caliber executive with global experience who will focus on building the Weston Foods business. I very much look forward to working with him.”

Sarah Davis will assume responsibility for the day-to-day operation of Loblaw’s business and execution of its strategy. Ms. Davis will report to Mr. Weston as he continues in his role as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Loblaw. Richard Dufresne, Chief Financial Officer of George Weston and Loblaw, will continue to report to Mr. Weston.

Since 2014, Ms. Davis has served as Chief Administrative Officer, responsible for Supply Chain, IT (including SAP implementation), Process and Efficiencies, Real Estate, Goods Not for Resale and Strategy. Prior to that, she served as Chief Financial Officer of Loblaw, appointed in 2010.

“I am extremely pleased to welcome Sarah to the role of President. She has an exceptional understanding of Loblaw. This, together with her strong financial background, particularly in operational roles, positions her well for this expanded leadership role,” said Mr. Weston. “I look forward to continuing to work closely with Sarah and the whole management team in the years ahead as we focus on delivering the best in food, best in health and beauty, operational excellence and growth.”

The rest of the broader management teams at George Weston and Loblaw remain unchanged.

SOURCE: Loblaw Companies Limited

In a complaint filed against Hint Inc. in California on January 17, plaintiff Lisa Kim Madrigal states “independent and reliable testing of sample Hint Flavored Water products reveals the material presence of propylene glycine…a synthetic substance [that is] chemically manufactured and highly processed.”
Propylene glycine (PG) is a synthetic substance approved by the FDA which is widely used as a solvent in “natural flavours.” Consumers wouldn’t expect to find this ingredient in an all-natural product.
While “all-natural” has not been clearly defined by law, “natural flavour” is defined by the FDA as “the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive. Protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating, or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.”
Madrigal argues that Hint has violated California’s consumer protection laws and falsely advertised their products as all-natural when they contain synthetic ingredients.
The law states that synthetic solvents are not allowed in the production of certified organic products, however, they are permitted in natural flavours.
That being said, the FDA is currently investigating “natural” claims and the lawsuit could be put on hold while the court waits for FDA guidance before proceeding.

Accucaps Industries Ltd., a drug manufacturing company with offices in Ontario, has been sold to American pharmaceutical company Catalent Inc.

The acquisitionwill substantially complement Catalent’s global OTC and prescription pharmaceutical softgel capabilities and capacity with the addition of a portfolio of products supplied to pharmaceutical companies in North America, and two state-of-the-art facilities offering integrated softgel development, manufacturing and packaging, strengthening Catalent’s ability to offer customers turnkey solutions.

Moreover, as a result of the deal, Accucaps’ more than 500 employees will be joining Catalent’s global network of 11 softgel technologies facilities.

“Significant investments already made by Accucaps align well with Catalent’s own strategic goals, to offer our customers access to more products, capacity, and integrated solutions for differentiated products and better treatments,” says Aris Gennadios, Catalent’s president of softgel technologies.

Lonza, a leading supplier to the global specialty ingredient market, has acquired Capsugel for USD $5.5 billion. According to the company, the acquisition follows Lonza’s strategy to accelerate growth and deliver value along the healthcare continuum.

With the acquisition of Capsugel, Lonza says it has gained a trusted brand with a large breadth of technologies. This will allow it to expand the market reach of its contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) and products businesses.

Overall, this move was carried out to create a leading integrated, value-added solutions provider in drug development, formulation, delivery technologies and manufacturing for the global pharma and consumer healthcare industries. According to Lonza, the combined business will support the evolving needs of the industry. It will provide additional value by offering an integrated portfolio of industry-leading technologies, from active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) through excipients to dosage forms and delivery technologies.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), imports at major retail container ports in the U.S. saw an unexpected increase over the holidays. While cargo volume does not directly correlate with sales, correlate directly to sales, it indicates retailers’ expectations for sales.

“We won’t see final sales numbers for a few more days, but import volume suggests that retailers had a strong holiday season,” says Jonathan Gold, vice-president of Supply Chain and Customs Policy for the NRF. “Retailers don’t import merchandise unless they think they can sell it.”

Ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.64 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEU) in November. This was down 1.6 per cent from October, asmost imported holiday merchandise had already arrived. However, this was up 11.2 per cent from a year earlier.

Previously, the NRF had predicted a year-over-year increase of 3.6 per cent.

December was estimated at 1.54 million TEU, up 7 per cemt year-over-year. Additionally, its annual forecast called for $655.8 billion in 2016 holiday sales during November and December, a 3.6 per cent increase over 2015, while November sales were up 5 per cent year-over-year.

Cargo volume for 2016 is now estimated at 18.8 million TEU, up 2.9 per cent from 2015. Total volume for 2015 was 18.2 million TEU, up 5.4 per cent from 2014.

Pure Brazilian, a manufacturer of cold-pressed, high-pressure processed coconut water, has appointed Rob Paladino as its new CEO. Paladino joins the company following a two year term as CEO of WTRMLN WTR, a cold-pressed juice brand.

During his time as CEO of WTRMLN WTR, Paladino oversaw the brand’s record triple-digit growth. With his guidance, the brand reported 300 per cent growth last year, with a retail expansion to over 15,000 locations across the U.S. The company also secured a capital raise led by CAVU Venture Partners, as well as investment from Beyoncé.

Diego Garcia, founder of Pure Brazilian, told BevNet that this incredible feat is what led him to originally admire Garcia.

“Of all the new brands that popped out in the last four years in this whole sort of functional beverage wave, by far the one that there was a lot of excitement around was WTRMLN WTR,” he says. “If there was a brand that I really admired, it was them, and I know Rob played a huge role in that. So bringing that to Pure Brazilian will allow me to focus on partnerships and the creative side, which is also something I think we can really now take to the next level. (Xanax) ”

Paladino will look to expand distribution of Pure Brazilian, also focusing on the optimization of the company’s supply chain.

“The strategic mission of Pure Brazilian to acquire plantations in Brazil’s northeastern states in the ideal Amazon biome, and controlling the supply chain from first planting, is a strategic advantage in a category projected to grow to $4.2B worldwide by 2019,” Paladino said in a press release. “It’s an honor to lead this Farm-to-Bottle mission working with an impressive team of founders.”

Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) reported total sales for its first quarter of $28.5 billion USD, a number that’s up 1.1 per cent from a year prior in constant currency terms. The company, which has taken a multichannel approach to its growth—including the leveraging of its beauty section, the building of pharmacy partnerships, and its acquisition of Rite Aid—is “pleased” with this progress.

Stefano Pessina, CEO of the company, anticipates growth in the second quarter of 2017, a result of WBA’s “new strategic pharmacy partnerships.”

The company saw sales drop in its US retail pharmacy division (which includes beauty) by .9 per cent, suggesting that this was due to the closure of beauty.com and drugstore.com. However, the company’s Q1 report suggests that this was offset by good performance in the health and wellness category.