News

The first quarter result of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has been increased slightly, compared to the same period of 2008. The company reached $ 3.03 billion profit in the first three months of 2009. But Wal-Mart’s revenues declined to $ 94.2 billion from 94.9 billion dollars.

Nestlé inaugurated a new research and development center in West Africa. The new center will focus on the improving of the local production of raw materials, such as cocoa, coffee and cassava. The new Nestlé R & D center will help the company to resolve the aging and disease problems of the West African cocoa plantations.

Danish Carlsberg doubled its profits in the first quarter of the year. World’s fourth largest brewing industry group owes its success to the increase in sales in Eastern Europe. The operating profit increased to 142 million USD in the first quarter of the year from 388 million a year earlier, slightly above the expectations. Carlsberg in last April bought the half of the British company ‘Scottish and Newcastle’ including Baltika, which is the largest brewery in Carlsberg’s main market, Russia.

Lambi tissue paper has arrived to Hungary. The annual turnover of Lambi premium products exceeds 100 million euros.

Henkel’s business units had mixed results for the first quarter of 2009. The Detergent and household cleaners business and Cosmetics performed well (0.4 and 3.5 percent increase). However the Adhesive Technologies have suffered major difficulties (18.2 percent decline). Revenues of the company increased with 3.1 percent to 3,258 million euros.

Tetra-Pak’s last year was succesful. He produced 141 billion boxes in 2008 for leading food and drink manufacturers, reaching a turnover of 8.8 billion euros. The engine of growth was the revival in the packaging industry in Central and South America, the Middle East, in South and South-East Asia, in North America and in Southern Europe.