News

New Arken Zoo stores The Swedish pet speciality chain Arken Zoo has revealed that it has bought an existing store from a competitor in Falkenberg. According to the company, the store stocks a full range of products including live pets and fish. This is new store number nine for 2010. Numbers ten and eleven will open in Infracity near Stockholm and Skövde. The store in Skövde has a retail area of approximately 450 m², while the Infracity outlet covers 600 m². These new openings bring the number of Arken Zoo stores in Sweden to 58. PLMA roundtable conference The Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) will hold its annual roundtable conference in Stockholm on 23 and 24 February. The topic will be “Private Label and Tomorrow’s Retail Shopping Experience”. Delegates will look at concepts for how manufacturers of private label products can adjust to changing retail shopping experiences (Smartphones, sustainability etc.). Registration is by E-Mail at conferences@plma.nl. Nürnberg Messe opens new centre Nürnberg Messe has invested over € 100 mio in extending its conference facilities in the last few years. Now it can boast two ultra-modern congress centres in the CCN Ost and CCN West-Mitte. These can accommodate over 11 000 people in total. Spectrum Brands reports loss for the fourth quarter The Global Pet Supplies segment of the American consumer products company Spectrum Brands (including “Tetra”) has completed an “accretive” $12.5 million bolt-on acquisition of Seed Resources, LLC. According to Spectrum Brands, Seed Resources is a leading wild bird seed cake producer on account of its premium brand seed cakes. As a result of six fewer shipping days in the quarter, a product recall in the companion animal category and general softness in the aquatics category due to macroeconomic factors, the Global Pet Supplies segment of Spectrum Brands delivered net sales of $140.1 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010, compared with $154.8 million in the comparable year-ago period. Foreign exchange had a negative impact of $1.9 million on these results. Net income for the Global Pet Supplies segment was $14.4 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010. Given the reduced sales and the approximately $4 million impact from the product recall, which has since been resolved, adjusted EBITDA for this segment was $24.6 million for the fourth quarter, declining from $30.4 million in the same period last year. Foreign exchange had a slight negative impact of $0.8…