The billionaire Servitje family of Mexico, led by Roberto Servitje, owns Grupo Bimbo, Mexico’s largest bakery company, with household brands including Nutella and Sara Lee sold throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Grupo Bimbo is being threatened by the criminal group Los Caballeros Templarios (The Knights Templar). The organization, a savage cartel that operates in the drug-plagued Mexican state of Michoacán, has threatened to burn trucks owned by Bimbo, Marinela (the pastries division of Grupo Bimbo), Barcel (a Bimbo unit that makes tortillas, potato chips and snacks) and Sabritas (a Pepsi-Cola subsidiary that makes snacks), if they distribute their products during the next three weeks in the state’s Apatzingán region, Mexico City’s leading daily, Reforma, reported on April 17.
Tag Archives: Sara Lee
Hanesbrands to Pay its First Dividend
By Eric Volkman, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
HanesBrands is to return money directly to shareholders for the first time in its history as an independent entity. The company will distribute $0.20 per share of its common stock on June 3 to shareholders of record as of May 20.
Since being spun off from Sara Lee in 2006, the company has not paid a dividend until now.
The dividend annualizes to $0.80 per share, which yields 1.8% at HanesBrands’ current stock price of $45.12.
The firm quoted its CEO Richard Noll as saying the new payout was “made possible by strong strategic execution, successful debt reduction and cash-flow generation, and margin-improvement prospects.”
The article Hanesbrands to Pay its First Dividend originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Eric Volkman has no position in Hanesbrands. The Motley Fool has no position in Hanesbrands. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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Is Starbucks Slipping?
By Molly McCluskey, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
There’s no question that Starbucks has a more outspoken, community-minded mission than its competitors. When CEO Howard Schultz politely told a shareholder to sell his shares after the shareholder suggested Starbucks’ gay-marriage stance was hurting the company, it was just one more headline in a year of headline grabs.
But was the shareholder right? Is Starbucks a victim of its own passions? While beans may make the cup, the message makes the brand. And as Starbucks’ message gets a little muddled in the face of growing competition, the competitors are using the mermaid to build their own brand.
Market slip?
A recent poll of hospitality’s most social brands shows that McDonald’s has slightly edged out Starbucks in its online love. It’s a subtle shift, but one that reflects a larger trend. McDonald’s has long been the haven of those on the go, while Starbucks has courted the entrepreneur/freelance-work-from-a-coffee-shop crowd (including yours truly). But Starbucks’ new eco-friendly, small-space store with no room for power outlets, tables or lounging has some wondering if Starbucks doesn’t want the all-day-sitting, free-refill-drinking coffee-loving laptop-toters, after all. On the other hand, McDonald’s recent push to include customers in its social media campaigns came with prizes worthy of the Macbook-toting hipster crowd.
Dunkin’ Donuts has slowly gained market share over the past year, while its “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drink Starbucks” campaign is now as recognizable to many as the mermaid herself.
A coffee klatch
Coffee lovers should keep an eye on the German investment firm Joh. A. Benckiser, which has been methodically buying up coffee companies for the past year. The Minneapolis coffee chain Caribou Coffee was recently purchased for $340 million. The group also bought Peet’s Coffee & Tea last year for $974 million. Rumors abound that the company is now eyeing Dutch Master Blenders, the company spun off by Sara Lee last year. Dutch Master Blenders has struggled as an independent company. A large, consolidated brand of these three companies could be enough to challenge Starbucks overseas.
The proof is in the cup
In the face of the confrontational shareholder, Schultz acknowledged a poor quarter, while also pointing out the company’s 38% return over the past year. He challenged the shareholder to find such returns elsewhere, with reason for his confidence. Canadian competitor Tim Hortons, which has been slowly making progress in the U.S. market, is nearly flat from this time last year after a range of peaks and valleys. Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s may brew a good cup, but aren’t coffeehouses. As long as Starbucks keeps the atmosphere it built itself on, and opens small-space stores sparingly, the gap will stay wide.
After all, while Dunkin’ Donuts might post cheeky billboards claiming that $4 for a cup of coffee is ridiculous, $3.70 for a tall soy latte, power outlet, comfortable chair, and Wi-Fi for a day in an urban area is cheaper than office space and the …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Here's What This 1,022% Gainer Has Been Buying
By Selena Maranjian, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Every quarter, many money managers have to disclose what they’ve bought and sold, via “13F” filings. Their latest moves can shine a bright light on smart stock picks.
Today, let’s look at investing giant Daniel Loeb, founder of the Third Point LLC hedge fund. Loeb is a well known activist investor, famous for publicly airing his opinions about companies in which he invests, and not mincing words when he’s displeased. Loeb was instrumental in pointing out discrepancies in former Yahoo! CEO Scott Thompson’s biography – paving the way for Yahoo!’s new CEO, Marissa Mayer.
His activity bears watching, because the guy seems to know a thing or two about investing. According to the folks at GuruFocus.com, over 15 recent years, Loeb racked up a cumulative gain of 1,022%, compared with just 124% for the S&P 500.
The company’s reportable stock portfolio totaled $5.5 billion in value as of December 31, 2012.
Interesting developments
So what does Third Point‘s latest quarterly 13F filing tell us? Here are a few interesting details.
The biggest new holdings are News Corp. and Tesoro. Other new holdings of interest include AbbVie and Herbalife . AbbVie was split off from Abbott Labs, and contains the pharmaceutical business, while Abbott focuses on medical, diagnostic, and nutritional products. AbbVie is saddled with a lot of debt, but it sports about $18 billion in annual revenue, more than $6 billion in free cash flow, and gobs of cash. Bears don’t like its being very dependent on its blockbuster drug Humira, which generates half its revenue. It does have other drugs, though, and more in its pipeline – and a 4.1% dividend yield.
Herbalife , while having the support of Loeb and Carl Icahn, has some high-profile naysayers, such as David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital, and Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management. The company recently reported robust results, with revenue in 2012 rising 18% over year-earlier levels. It sports an attractive 3.2% dividend yield, but those worried about red flags raised by critics (such as concerns about its multi-level-marketing strategy) might want to wait for the dust to settle.
Among holdings in which Third Point increased its stake was ARIAD Pharmaceuticals , which received FDA approval for its leukemia drug Iclusig – though its initial sales have been weak, so far. (The drug seems to be nearing approval in Europe, though, which bodes well.) ARIAD‘s bone-tumor drug ridaforolimus was rejected in Europe, but it might still prove effective against other cancers. The company has been spending heavily on research and development, and it needs some more success from its pipeline, as it consumes a lot of cash.
Third Point reduced its stake in companies such as Hillshire Brands , which has been trading near a 52-week high. The company, the result of a split-up of Sara Lee, describes itself as “a leader in meat-centric food solutions for the retail and foodservice markets,” and encompasses brands such as …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance