Five market traders have lost their High Court battle for the right to trade in imperial measures. Upmarket European off licence chain Vom Fass will open a concession in Selfridges and a store Putney this year in addition to its pilot store in Notting Hill as it prepares for a franchised roll out to up to 200 sites nationwide. Chelsea based organic supermarket Here has opened the first organic butcher's counter at its Chelsea store. One-off charges resulting from scaling back its European biscuit business sent full year net profit at French food giant Danone plummeting 80% to E132m. Sales were up 5.1% to E14.47bn. Carrefour will open an office in Moscow in the spring to co-ordinate its search for sites for new stores in and around the Russian capital. Menzies Corporate Restructuring said it had been approached by seven companies interested in buying Leda Stores, a 34-strong independent CTN chain currently in receivership. An additional 29 companies were keen to buy clusters of stores in their trading area. US retailer Albertsons has developed a new combi food and drugstore format branded Albertson's/Osco. The stores feature a drive- through pharmacy, photo centre and cosmetics department plus a full grocery offer. Pernod Ricard will merge its Indian subsidiary into Seagram's Indian business this year, introducing brands such as Jameson Irish Whisky, Havana Club Rum and Jacob's Creek wine into the new enlarged Seagram India. Reckitt Benckiser increased pre-tax profit for the year ending December 31 2001 to £498m up 11% on the previous year. Turnover rose 7% to £3.44bn. French retailer Leclerc has formed a joint venture in Italy with local Co-op Conad to develop up to 20 new stores over the next five years. Richmond Foods has announced the resignation of non-executive director Ken Woolley ­ a founder of the Richmond Ice Cream Company. DEFRA has called together the UK's nine organic certifying bodies to discuss the future of organic overlord the UK Register of Organic Food Standards, and put registration in the hands of non-specialist body the UK Accreditation Service. Lever Fabergé has sold its Addiction and Aquatonic deodorant brands to Conquest Personal Care. Cueta Healthcare will sell, market and distribute these brands from March 1. Latin American sauces company Latina Brands is set to extend UK distribution with the appointment of Petty, Wood as its sales, marketing and distribution company. L'Oréal's pre-tax profit rose 13.6% to £919m (11,502m) in the year to December 31 2001 on turnover up 8.4% to £8.38bn (113.7bn). Dawnfresh Seafoods is not owned by Rossfish, as stated in last week's issue. {{NEWS }}

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