MAXWELL HOUSE COFFEE MIGHT BE IN THE FUTURE KRAFT HEINZ’S CORPORATE CUP Ailing food giant, Kraft Heinz, reviewing options for its Maxwell House coffee business, which could include a potential sale of the coffee business brand that had roughly $400 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortiza- tion last year. Based off similar valuations for other sales of consumer brands, the sale of the Maxwell House coffee business could fetch a price around $3 billion. The coffee industry has become more challenging in the past few years, but private equity firms have shown great interest in buying some larger brands and giving them new life as was seen when the private equity firm KKR last year paid roughly $8 billion for Unilever’s brand, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and other spreads business. The same uncertainty goes for other brands under Kraft Heinz as they too could be sold off from its corporate portfolio as the company looks to reshape the empire put together by its private equity backer 3G Capital.
FORD HIRING TO BOOST SUV PRODUCTION
Ford has announced that it will be adding 550 new jobs at its Kentucky truck plant where it assembles its Expedition and Lincoln Navigator sport utility vehicles. The automaker also said that it will also transfer roughly 500 workers from its nearby Louisville assembly plant to help handle the 20 percent increase in production, which is expected to begin in July. The move is a result of growing demand for both of Ford’s SUVs, which are based on the same platform and share many of the same features and parts. Expedition sales rose 35 percent and gained 5.6 per- centage points in market share in its segment last year. While sales of the Navigator, the more premium version of the two vehicles climbed 70 percent over the same time period.
Which is great news for Ford, workers and the industry.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • MARCH 2019
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