Arnott's Biscuits Up For Sale

Food & Drink
1

Nine.com.au today reports that Campbell’s are planning to divest their international operations including Arnott’s.

https://finance.nine.com.au/2018/08/31/10/06/arnotts-put-up-for-sale-by-us-owner-campbell-soup

You better be quick if you want it before Dick Smith buys it.

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Imagine the names Dick Smith could experiment with and judge market responses…

Tims Dk, Dk Shapes, iced VoVo Dks, etc etc
I think Dick could be on a winner here or should I say a “winning D*k”!!
On a serious note it’s a shame once iconic Australian brands are all but a few either already sold off or in the process of to overseas giants…
Where’s our pride and ambition of “Making Australia Great again”?? Australian Manufacturing can be great again and play successfully in global markets if we just innovate, automate and believe in ourselves and our ability to make, grow and sell awesome things!

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Australia has long overpunched it weight in many endeavours, but two aspects are relevant.

  1. CSIRO was once our preeminent and a world class research organisation but has recently struggled under budget cuts and curious government mandates to be commercial, picking winners and losers from research areas where there was once universal leadership, and in cases has essentially forced top researchers into retirement from the organisation. Peruse the forward programs they are proud to highlight in the link and make your own judgements.

  2. (anecdotal version).

  • Ask a gifted young American what their goal is: develop it, form a company, become world leader, dominate the product segment, buy up competitors, dominate the industry.
  • Ask a gifted young Australian what their goal is: develop it, form a company, sell it to a multinational

We once just revelled in pounding down the tall poppy. We then reinforce short sighted government through supporting a political party(s) that disown whatever the other started, so planning is limited to the next election when all bets are off. Current focus is old school whereby government proudly prioritises subsidising minerals and donors at the expense of seeding or at least not interfering with developments of new technologies, and it has surprisingly been happy to push around some businesses that are forward looking. That climate handicaps the best of us. Our scale also makes it difficult to attract sufficient local capital to compete at a global scale, resulting in the need for foreign capital and often that cost is foreign ownership.

Government mostly applauds this because it creates short term capital infusion, perhaps a few more wealthy individuals, but at what national cost? We are a banana constitutional monarchy on our best day, and unlike New Zealand over past decades, are too politically insecure in what we are and what we can do to go our own way for our own best interests in international relationships.

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Sad news folks. Arnotts remains foreign owned.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/company-news/arnotts-gobbled-up-in-dollarus22bn-sale/ar-AAELTua

On a side note, we were taught that it is always "i’ before “e” except after “c” but “foreign” is the second word I have noticed this week that defies the rule.

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Weird! :wink:
Characters added to make up the minimum 20. :roll_eyes:

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I beleive that Dick Smith has sold off many of his product lines in his food business…

For example, DS Bush Foods cereal is now produced by Farmers Co (which I beleive maybe owned by Freedom Foods).

Last year he indicated that he would be ceasing his DK food business as he was unable to compete in price with cheap imported products, the likes sold at Aldi and now matched in some other supermarkets.

Don’t think DK will be coming to the rescue.

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KKR is about the worst of the worst US corporate raiders. Whatever they do it will not go well for Arnotts staff. As for the products, they will be ‘optimised’ in raider speak to minimise costs, maximise volume, and exponentiate profits.

The ‘streets’ are littered with their takeover victims.

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I before E except after C or in front of a G or when the sound is A …

or

I before E except when your feisty and weird foreign neighbour Keith leisurely receives eight counterfeit beige sleighs from caffeinated atheist weightlifters …

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I have to ask did you have that prepared or was it a dedicated effort to pull Keith, his counterfeit and beige sleighs together with those atheist weightlifters?

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Theres a few around - not an original of mine :wink:

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Brought a laugh to my lips so regardless it is/was worthy of the like and my hearty appreciation!!!

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