The sale of Goodfella’s Pizza to Nomad Foods generates column inches this morning, alongside news that Judith McKenna has scored a promotion with Walmart.

‘Chicken King’ sells Goodfella’s Pizza to Birds Eye owner Nomad Foods, reads the headline in The Telegraph. Food tycoon Ranjit Boparan has offloaded his frozen pizza business Goodfella’s Pizza to Nomad Foods, the US investment vehicle that already owns Birds Eye fish fingers and Findus crispy pancakes, the paper adds. The Financial Times says Nomad expands deeper into the freezer with €225m (£200m) deal after a two-year hiatus. Nomad has been in a turnround under chief executive Stefan Descheemaeker since its business plan soured in 2015 following its acquisitions of Iglo and Findus.

Ranjit Boparan has had his wrist slapped after being accused of sending unsolicited gifts to the MPs investigating his 2 Sisters food company’s recent poultry safety scandal, The Telegraph reports. Neil Parish, chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, has written to Boparan to say that the gifts were an “inappropriate gesture on your part and an unwarranted attempt to impugn the committee’s impartiality”. “Not taking the biscuit: MPs decline ‘unsolicited’ gifts from 2 Sisters boss,” reads The Guardian headline. “Festive gift from 2 Sisters Food Group was ‘attempt to impugn’ impartiality, says committee.”

Judith McKenna becomes most senior woman in UK food retail as Walmart international boss, The Telegraph reports, following up from the Bloomberg scoop. The promotion puts the 51-year old in charge of leading Walmart’s more than 6,000 stores from the UK to China, as the world’s largest retailer competes with Amazon to dominate shopping, The Financial Times adds.

An analysis in The Financial Times of the Ferrero acquisition of Nestle’s confectionery business says the deal marks the coming of age of the Italian chocolate maker.

Britain’s leading supermarkets create more than 800,000 tonnes of plastic packaging waste every year, according to an investigation by the Guardian, which reveals how top chains keep details of their plastic footprint secret.

Marks & Spencer has announced a further shake-up to its logistic network as the retailer grapples to modernise its clothing and supply chain amid falling sales (The Telegraph).

Topics