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During the Eurosac Congress 2017 of the European Federation of Multiwall Paper Sack Manufacturers, which was held in Hamburg/Germany, the latest innovations of the European paper sack and sack kraft paper industry were honoured with the Eurosac Grand Prix Award. The German company Dy-Pack scored a hat trick with its new Dy-Vest bag-within-a-bag concept and was successful against the entries of Billerud Korsnäs and Mimcord. According to the jury, this concept will bring the most benefit to the industry.

Dy-Vest is the first valve sack technology that fulfils the hygienic requirements of cleanrooms. The outer valve sack layer of the three-ply construction can be stripped from the inner sack. Dy-Vest thus combines the advantages of valve sacks such as fast and economical filling with the demands of the food and pharma industries.

Billerud Korsnäs presented Rain Safe. The three-ply sack (two paper layers and a HDPE liner) withstands at least four hours of rain without water or vapour damaging the filled product. The sack reaches the same filling speeds as regular high porous paper sacks and is made of renewable paper.

The Multiply-Cord Handle for paper carrier bags by Mimcord is produced from 100 % kraft FSC- or PEFC-certified paper. It can be created in multiple colours and is recyclable and compostable. By dividing the weight between the cord plies, the handle increases the carrier’s comfort.

Barry Callebaut signed an agreement to acquire D’Orsogna Dolciaria, which will further strengthen its Specialties & Decorations business, in particular in Europe. D’Orsogna Dolciaria, a family-owned Italian business-to-business company, is known as a leading supplier of high-quality decoration and inclusion solutions mainly for Food Manufacturers, in particular for ice-cream, dairy and bakery products. This acquisition underlines Barry Callebaut’s strategic efforts to expand in the value-added Specialties & Decorations segment, which serves both Food Manufacturers and Gourmet customers. With the acquisition of D’Orsogna Dolciaria, Barry Callebaut will become a leader in decoration and inclusion products, expanding its existing offering with amaretti, meringues, cookies, glazings, toppings, inclusions and other products for ice cream, yogurts, snacks and chocolate decorations.

KP Snacks, the British subsidiary of Intersnack Group, has announced that it has reached agreement with Tangerine Confectionery to buy Butterkist Limited, Tangerine’s popcorn business. Butterkist’s manufacturing site in Pontefract, West Yorkshire and its 140 employees will become part of the KP Snacks business.

Mark Thorpe, CEO of KP Snacks, says: "Butterkist is an iconic brand with a 100 year heritage and the number one branded popcorn in the UK. I am delighted that we have this opportunity to add Butterkist to our existing portfolio, which includes McCoy’s, Hula Hoops, Pom-Bear and KP Nuts, as we seek to offer consumers and customers a comprehensive UK snacking category proposition. We look forward to welcoming our new Pontefract colleagues and the Butterkist brand to KP.”

Anthony Francheterre, CEO of Tangerine Confectionery, says: “We are proud to have been instrumental in Butterkist’s development and pleased to pass the baton to KP Snacks to continue its success story. We believe this announcement is good news for both parties and confirms Tangerine’s focus on sugar confectionery, accelerating the development of our iconic brands Barratt, Dip Dab, Fruit Salad and building a stronger category with our customers.“

At the coming ISM, the world's largest trade fair for sweets and snacks, already 90% of last year's exhibition space is already booked, six months before the opening of the fair.  

Once again a strong, international field of participants, comprising of around 1,600 exhibitors, will be presenting themselves and countless new products in Cologne. Boasting an 86% share of foreign exhibitors and 62% share of foreign visitors, the trade fair is one of the most international trade fairs in the world. ProSweets Cologne - the international supplier fair for the sweets and snacks industry - will once again be staged parallel to ISM from 28 to 31 January 2018.

In total, exhibitors from around 60 countries are expected to participate. These include among others companies from countries such as Armenia, Guatemala, Iceland or Nepal. Furthermore, national pavilions will also be a further focus of attention again. They combine country-specific flair with a large diversity of products and especially offer smaller and medium-sized companies attractive framework conditions for their trade fair appearance in Cologne. Country pavilions from the following countries have already registered for ISM 2018: Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Singapore, Spain, the Czech Republic, Turkey, the Ukraine and the USA.

Supporting programme
The supporting programme of ISM 2018 is already taking on shape too. For example, on the Wednesday of the fair interesting key themes especially tailor-made for the information requirements of the industry and trade are planned. All activities are being summarised under the motto "Trend and Theme Day". An attractive programme on the "ISM Expert Stage" will provide exciting entertainment. The famous "ISM Award" will be conferred again for exceptional services to the sweets and snacks industry.

There will be further distinctions in the scope of the "New Product Showcase". The ISM visitors select the three best products from among all of those products presented there by the exhibitors. The "ISM Packaging Award powered by ProSweets Cologne will also be awarded again.

ProSweets Cologne - the international supplier fair for the sweets and snacks industry - will once again be staged parallel to ISM. Together with ProSweets Cologne, ISM covers the entire value chain of sweets production and sales at the same time and place - a worldwide unique constellation.

Constantia Flexibles, Vienna, Austria has signed an agreement to sell its Labels division to the U.S. concern Multi-Color Corporation, Cincinnati, Ohio, for an enterprise value of approximately € 1.15 bn. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2017, subject to regulatory approvals.

The majority of the transaction is payable in cash, while Constantia Flexibles will also receive 3.4 million shares in Multi-Color stock. On completion of the transaction, the flexible packaging company will hold 16.6% of Multi-Color, thereby becoming its largest shareholder. Two representatives of Constantia Flexibles will join Multi-Color’s Board of Directors.

Constantia Labels is a global supplier of labels to the beverage, food and home & personal care industries(HPC), with long-standing customer relationships with leading brands. It has 23 plants in 14 countries and has roughly 2,800 employees. The Labels division achieved sales of € 605 m in 2016. Established in 1916, Cincinnati, Ohio-based Multi-Color is one of the largest label companies in the world. With approximately 5,500 employees, it operates 45 manufacturing facilities worldwide. Multi-Color achieved sales of USD 923 m in fiscal year 2017.

This value-creating transaction will bring together Constantia Labels’ leading food and beverage business with Multi-Color’s strong wine and spirits and home & personal care platforms. It will also widen the joint Group’s geographical footprint and create long-term synergies that will benefit all parties involved. Mike Henry, current CEO of Constantia Labels, will become CEO-elect of Multi-Color, and will work closely with the current CEO Vadis Rodato, who will retire in early 2018 after a transition period. Nigel Vinecombe will remain in his current role as Chairman of Multi-Color.

Today, the GNT Group is very pleased to announce the opening of its brand new laboratory facilities in Mierlo/The Netherlands. With an investment of more than three million euros, the global market leader in colouring foods has considerably expanded its capacities for product development and quality control.

Over the past years, the GNT site in Mierlo has been constantly growing, now covering six hectares. The new facility makes a crucial contribution to supporting the sustainable growth that is fundamental to the company’s strategic 2020 plan and additionally maintaining its market leading position in the field of colouring foods.

“As pioneer and innovation leader, our aim is to successfully support our customers in making the transition from additives to colouring foods in every product category”, says Dr. Hendrik Hoeck, Managing Director of the GNT Group. “Our new facilities highly contribute to this goal and enable us to enhance our support to manufacturers at all stages of product development. This will further drive the concept of ‘colouring food with food’ to become the industry standard to satisfy consumers growing demand for real natural colour.”

Packaging specialist Schubert achieved positive year-end results in 2016: Gerhard Schubert GmbH increased its turnover by 7.5 percent year-on-year to 187.2 m euros. A very good order situation, a dynamic order intake, especially from the USA and the pharmaceutical sector, as well as a highly successful presence at the world-leading interpack trade fair, all point towards a favourable business year in 2017 as well. The market leader in digital packaging machines’ objective for this year is to reach a turnover of 200 m euros. The entire group of companies generated a consolidated turnover of approx. 233 m euros in 2016 and currently employs 1,174 people.

Schubert continues to drive forward on a clear growth path: “We are planning the ongoing expansion of our production and assembly spaces by 2020,” reports Peter Gabriel, Managing Director at Gerhard Schubert GmbH. “This year, we are investing close to 20 million euros in our Crailsheim location as well as in research and development. This will enable us to be ideally prepared to gain additional shares in existing and new markets.”

A look at the current financial year indicates continued positive business development for 2017. “This year, we are enjoying a very good order situation. We also successfully closed the interpack fair with three significant orders and several concrete project inquiries,” says Peter Gabriel. “We are very optimistic that in 2017 we will be achieving our objective of reaching turnover of 200 million euros.”