March 6 (Reuters) – Molson Coors Brewing Co
said on Tuesday it will launch Coors Light Iced Tea and other
new products, as the beer company fights to win a greater share
of the struggling beer market.

Molson executives said during a meeting with analysts that
the new products should help spur sales so the company can put
less reliance on cost-cutting to drive its profit. It also seeks
to make beer more attractive to people who have moved on to wine

NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters) – Consumer staples companies have a problem. It costs more to make everything from soup to soap to soda, but when they raise prices they turn off consumers and strain their relationships with Wal-Mart Stores Inc, their biggest customer.

For some companies, like Clorox Co and Kraft Foods Inc, the problem can be comparatively easy to handle. They either have brands that consumers like, and therefore Wal-Mart needs, or they are big enough to have significant negotiating power.

NEW YORK/CHICAGO, March 6 (Reuters) – Consumer staples
companies have a problem. It costs more to make everything from
soup to soap to soda, but when they raise prices they turn off
consumers and strain their relationships with Wal-Mart Stores
Inc (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), their biggest customer.

For some companies, like Clorox Co (CLX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Kraft Foods
Inc (KFT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the problem can be comparatively easy to handle.
They either have brands that consumers like, and therefore
Wal-Mart needs, or they are big enough to have significant
negotiating power.

Feb 22 (Reuters) – Top executives from PepsiCo Inc’s
two biggest competitors were unfazed Wednesday by a
significant increase of North American advertising by the number
two soft-drink maker.

Coca-Cola Co Chief Financial Officer Gary Fayard said
he did not expect his company to increase its advertising budget
as a percentage of revenue, even though Pepsi announced an
increase in advertising of $500 million to $600 million this
year.

, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Campbell Soup Co
introduced a range of new products including soups with
exotic flavors sold in pouches on Wednesday, as its new CEO aims
to deliver on her mandate to turn around the company’s ailing
North American soup business.

After years of weak soup sales, Denise Morrison, who took
the top job at Campbell last summer, has pledged to stabilize
and then grow its North American soup business by introducing
new products and reinvigorating its marketing and advertising.

, Feb 21 (Reuters) – ConAgra Foods Inc
(CAG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Chief Executive Gary Rodkin said that price increases
contributed to the weak sales seen across the North American
packaged food and beverage industry, but said there could be
other factors.

“It’s very hard to pinpoint the exact reason,” for the
weakness, Rodkin said in an interview at the annual Consumer
Analyst Group of New York conference in Boca Raton, Florida.

BOCA RATON, Florida (Reuters) – Price increases across most of the North American food industry have turned off many shoppers, leading to weak sales for some packaged food makers.

Companies including General Mills (GIS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Kraft Foods Inc (KFT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and ConAgra Foods Inc (CAG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) have raised prices on many of their products in the last year as they grappled with soaring costs for everything from grains and dairy products to packaging and fuel.

By Martinne Geller

(Reuters) – Kraft Foods Inc (KFT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) forecast earnings growth of at least 9 percent this year even as it prunes its portfolio of North American brands.

Kraft, North America’s largest packaged food maker, will separate into two companies later this year. One will focus on snacks like Cadbury chocolate and Oreo cookies, and the other will focus on North American grocery brands including Maxwell House coffee and Oscar Mayer lunch meat.

NEW YORK/PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Food companies salivating over Diamond Foods Inc’s (DMND.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Pop Secret popcorn and Kettle potato chips will want to wait for a full examination of the company’s books to be completed, and by then Diamond may have cleaned up enough of its problems to not even put them on the table.

Those problems certainly mount up. The San Francisco-based company is mired in a federal probe into accounting for payments to walnut growers, many of whom are now so unhappy with the seller of Emerald nuts that they are considering severing ties with the company. [ID:nL2E8DAEJX] The nut business makes up more than half of Diamond’s sales.

NEW YORK/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Wynn Resorts Ltd Chief Executive Steve Wynn upped the ante in his fight against former business partner Kazuo Okada, accusing the Japanese gaming mogul of improper payments to foreign gaming regulators and forcibly buying back Okada’s 20 percent stake in the casino company at a deep discount.

As investors punished Okada’s company shares, he denounced the move as “outrageous,” vowed to block it, and called for independent oversight of the Wynn Resorts board.