US: Dole Food Company has announced plans to develop its environmental initiatives at company-owned farms around the world. A new Office of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability will prioritise carbon footprint reduction, soil conservation and water management. President and CEO David DeLorenzo said the initiatives made financial as well as environmental sense.

"Most of these programmes not only protect the environment, they also contribute to decrease our production costs." Dole owns 2,400 hectares of natural and commercial forest in Costa Rica and has planted more than a million trees in the Philippines.

AUSTRALIA: Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) expects to deliver "high single-digit growth" for the first half of 2010. Its premium beers now account for about 10% of Australia's premium beer market. "The strength of our business model in effectively balancing pricing, volume growth and market share has continued to serve the business well," said CCA's group MD Terry Davis. CCA will now look to increase its investment in Indonesia over the next few years.

TURKEY: Carrefour's Turkish subsidiary has signed a deal to acquire the 27-store supermarket chain Ipek for 24m. Subject to the approval of competition authorities, the stores will be converted from the Alpark banner to the Carrefour Express and Carrefour Market banners. Carrefour already operates in Turkey through its subsidiaries CarrefourSA (58.2% owned by Carrefour and 39.8% by partner Sabanci) and DiaSA (60% owned by Carrefour and 40% by Sabanci).

RUSSIA: X5 Retail Group bought an additional 31% stake in IT Business this week, taking its ownership to 82%. It will have the option to acquire the remainder by 2014. The group has also concluded an agreement to create a mobile virtual network operator with Russia's leading telecoms provider. Subscription to its services will start in Perekrestok and Karusel stores in the Moscow region this summer. IT Business reported $4m sales and 40,000 customer visits for Q1 2010.

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