German hard discounter Lidl is moving into the Hungarian market this year, according to local press reports. Kraft Foods has boosted its ready meals portfolio with the purchase of Borden Foods' US ready meals business It's Pasta Anytime! C-store multiple T&S Stores has acquired four stores from the Rowlandson organisation to be rebadged to the One Stop fascia. The purchase takes the group's store tally to just over 1,250 stores. Tesco has appointed Merrill Lynch as broker. The firm will act as joint broker with Deutsche Bank. Coca-Cola is reported to be eyeing up US juice and tea products firm Nantucket Nectars. Members of the new Commission on the Future of Farming and Food will issue a consultation document on its remit within weeks. The DTI has given the regulatory thumbs up to the acquisition of Welsh cheese maker Aeron Valley Cheese by dairy co-operative First Milk. US officials are pressing the EU to abandon new labelling requirements on GM foods on the grounds they will discriminate against US producers and violate WTO rules. Carrefour's European finance director Patrick Armand has warned businesses in the Eurozone will begin passing on the costs of transferring to the euro in the course of 2002. Spar is planning to invest $50m over the next two to three years to fund its expansion in Russia with 30 stores. Northern c-store chain Bells Stores has received the prestigious Investors in People award for the fourth year running. Nisa has launched more frozen platter meals under the Nisa Heritage label, promising to offer retailers higher margins than brand leaders. Tesco Ireland has been ordered to pay three of its staff in Dublin an extra week's wages in compensation for failing to give them written details of their terms of employment and pay rates, as required by Irish law. Asda has introduced 100 new Smartprice items, including chocolate chip cookies at 26p and pasta twists at 21p. Tradinterchange charges a monthly licence fee to customers, rather than an upfront fee as suggested in the August 4 issue of The Grocer. This year's Butchers' and Drovers' Charitable Institution dinner takes place on November 2 at the London Hilton. Hazlewood is axing 120 jobs at its pickles and sauces factory in Greengate, Greater Manchester, after declining volumes pushed losses to unacceptable levels. About 50 staff will stay at the plant and work a single shift. Trials of Nestlé's self heating cans of Nescafé Original coffee, which were cancelled earlier this year, have started in Birmingham. {{NEWS }}

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