Fresh food producer Geest group sales rose 17% from £567m to £664m in the year to December 2001. The company attributed the increase to new product innovation and increased demand for fresh prepared convenience foods. Pre-tax profit rose 12% from £37m to £42m. Analysts have poured cold water on rumours that French retailer Casino is prowling Safeway. One said: "Casino has far too many commitments at the moment to warrant a deal, although anything is possible." Sainsbury is posting a series of ads on major internet portals AOL, Yahoo, Freeserve and MSN to boost awareness of its online shopping site SainsburysToYou. The collapse of the honey harvest in New Zealand has added to the shortage of stocks in the UK caused by the ban on Chinese honey imports. Northern Foods has declined to comment on rumours it is in talks with Wincanton and Christian Salvesen to sell its food-distribution arm, Northern Foods Transport, and hive off its milling division, Smiths Flour Mills. The first Spar store in Ukraine will open at the end of the month. David Arculus will replace Chris Haskins as chairman of the government's Better Regulation Task Force. He will take up his post when Haskins steps down on March 31. Savoury snack specialist Ginsters is the first chilled foods supplier to join the Association of Convenience Stores' Premier Club. A record 140 products have been entered for the Scottish Food and Drink Excellence awards to be held in Glasgow on May 16. The awards are a joint venture between the Royal Highland & Agricultural Society and Scottish Enterprise. Coinstar, the coin-counting service that converts loose change into bigger units, is piloting machines in three branches of MAKRO. Over 300 machines have been installed in Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury stores. Camelot will install new Instants dispensers at its top 5,000 instants retail outlets from mid-April. The dispensers are designed for greater visibility in store. Scottish Spar wholesaler CJ Lang will trial Storm Digital Broadcasting's Newsagents' Radio at 10 company owned stores from the end of March. Confectionery specialist Chupa Chups is planning to open 5,000 branded retail outlets worldwide over the next three years, with the UK likely to be an early target. GlaxoSmithKline is boosting Ribena's marketing budget from £7m to £27m and introducing a sports cap bottle to try to attract more adult consumers. Tesco has signed an exclusive national distribution deal to carry a 12-strong range of male grooming products from model agency So Dam Tuff in 240 of its larger stores. {{NEWS }}

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