Regulators in Brussels and the Ukraine have given the green light to Scottish & Newcastle's £1.2bn deal to buy Finnish brewer Hartwall. The deal must now be approved by S&N shareholders. Nestlé posted a 10.1% increase in sales for the first quarter of 2002 to SF21.3bn (£9.9bn) and reiterated growth targets for 2002. Tesco has signed up US firm Emerson Climate Technologies to provide web based monitoring services throughout its estate in a bid to reduce energy use. Kmart has asked for the approval of the US bankruptcy court to pay its chief executive James Adamson a $4m success payment' if the chain emerges from bankruptcy before July 31, 2003. Tesco has earmarked £100m to spend on store refurbishments this financial year. Norwegian co-operative society Co-op Norge is calling for societies in Sweden and Denmark to join it in a boycott of Israeli products in protest at Israel's actions in the Middle East. German co-op Rewe is reportedly considering a move into the Russian market. Ahold's shares nosedived this week after restated results according to US accounting standards revealed sharp discrepancies in profits with the figures relayed through Dutch accounting standards. Ahold rejected allegations it had overstated its 2001 earnings. Latest figures from ACNielsen reveal over 1.6 million UK consumers now purchase groceries online. Tesco has sponsored a three-week TV ad campaign on Welsh TV channel S4C to support the Working Welsh scheme ­ an initiative to encourage businesses to use the Welsh language to improve customer relations. German discount giant Aldi has opened over 40 stores in New South Wales, 15 months after it entered the Australian market. Another 14 sites are planned in the coming months. Morrisons is to test fuelling vehicles running from its distribution centre in Northwich, Cheshire, with e-diesel made using recycled vegetable oils. Safeway chairman David Webster will be keynote speaker at the first Scottish Retail Consortium conference Scottish Retailing: 20/20 Vision on May 2 at Edinburgh University. Preston based Booths Supermarkets is to start its first billboard campaign aimed at promoting regional products and driving footfall in its 26 stores. In our focus on juices and smoothies published on April 6, Asda's share of the total fruit juice market, according to Taylor Nelson Sofres data for the 52 w/e March 3 2002, should have read 13.8%, not 3.8%. {{NEWS }}

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