LATESTSYNERGIES TO THE MAX. ODP, the owner of Office Depot and Office Max, thinks it has a better idea than selling itself whole to Staples, as the latter proposed last week. Both are struggling in the tough U.S. retail market. ODP on Tuesday suggested Staples owner Sycamore Partners should focus on that area, and either form a joint venture in which both companies’ shareholders can benefit from cost-cutting, or buy only ODP’s consumer-facing business.
EXCEEDINGLY GOOD QUARTER. The pandemic is breathing new life into some old food brands. Britain’s Premier Foods, the maker of Mr Kipling cakes and Bisto gravy, said on Tuesday that its sales rose 9% year-on-year in the 13 weeks to Dec. 26, with foods such as Sharwood’s cooking sauces driving growth. Indulgence in the time of lockdowns provided a further boost: sales of cakes such as French Fancies and Viennese Whirls grew 7%.
RAW DEAL. It can only go up from here. Outbound Chinese acquisitions tumbled 45% last year to $29 billion, their lowest level since 2008, according to a Tuesday report from law firm Baker McKenzie and research outfit Rhodium. Dealmaking in the United Kingdom from the People’s Republic collapsed 90% while foreign direct investment into Europe tumbled 44%.
RISKS ON MUTE. Logitech International Chief Executive Bracken Darrell has had an enviable year at the helm of the Swiss computer-equipment group. On Tuesday he revealed that soaring demand for webcams and other home office kit pushed revenue in the first nine months of the company’s fiscal year to $3.7 billion. That’s 64% higher than a year earlier. Logitech’s share price rose by 3%, giving it an $18.3 billion market value.
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