Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT), a leading manufacturer and marketer of packaged food and grocery products worldwide, has outlined several cost saving strategies to position itself as a strong bidder for the possible takeover of Cadbury Inc (CBY).   Kraft Foods and Cadbury combined would create a company with annual revenues of $50 billion (£30 billion), beating Nestle as the world’s leading food group. Kraft on Monday had proposed a takeover of Cadbury for $16.2 billion (£10.2 billion). However, Cadbury rejected the offer on grounds of it being significantly undervalued. Management at Kraft is pursuing the takeover, for which it is working on an $8 billion finance program through Citigroup (C) and Deutsche Bank (DB). In addition to this, the company is focusing on procurement strategies and is in the processes of reducing its supplier base by almost 50%. Furthermore, the company plans ...

When recessions bite, people turn to cheap comfort foods like macaroni and cheese. And as it turns out, those deliciously cheesy elbows have been a pretty good indicator of difficult times.

This from the Financial Times: Sales of Mac & Cheese – which can feed two or more people for as little as $1 – have become an indicator of the health of the US consumer.

Kraft first reported a surge of “almost 20 per cent” in Mac & Cheese sales during spring and early summer last year as economic pressures increased.

Mac & Cheese sales also jumped in 1990, when the US economy was also in a downturn.

It’s not just Mac & Cheese that are surging, either. Other budget menu items are also making gains. Kraft, the largest US food group, reported “solid gains” in powdered drinks and desserts. “Businesses like Jell-O, Mac & Cheese, and Kool-Aid are doing exceptionally well,” says

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HIDDEN VALUE

Dear Value Seeker,

Christmas is almost upon us.

Business activity is winding down. In some cases, it’s stopping altogether.

According to the Financial Times, some of the biggest tech names in Silicon Valley will be shutting up shop over the holidays to cut costs.

Meanwhile, the bosses at Toyota have signaled that the automaker could post its first yearly operating loss.

Contrarian blogger Mish Shedlock warns that corporate losses may be the least of our worries. That’s because a new, highly-contagious fiscal virus is taking hold of the world economy.

“The primary symptom of FIV [Fiscal Insanity Virus] is irrational, often delusional fear of deflation. The virus has an uncanny ability to seek victims in positions of authority. Those afflicted with the virus start taking (or promoting) fiscally reckless actions guaranteed to damage the host country.”

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While most companies are bracing themselves for difficult times in 2009, Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE:YUM) is aggressively expanding its international operations. The fast food group has China at the core of its growth strategy for 2009. Mike Caggeso says this could make Yum! one of the most promising investment stories in the coming year.

Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE:YUM) expects another year of double-digit profit growth.

For nearly everyone else, 2009 won’t be just “another year.” Nearly every economist expects the first half of the New Year to bring more of the same, a deepening global financial crisis that’ll throw an even bigger, wetter blanket on economic growth than it did this year.

Indeed, even more than in 2008, next year will be a real-life case study of the survival of the fittest. And Yum’s certainly fit for the

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NutraCea, a world leader in stabilized rice bran, has signed a definitive agreement with the Bright Food Investment Group, a subsidiary of Bright Food Group, to build the world’s largest rice bran oil refinery. The new refinery will process an estimated 500,000 metric tons of raw rice bran annually to produce rice bran oil, new patent-pending defatted rice bran, and stabilized rice bran, all of which will be used in a wide range of food applications.

The facility is estimated to be completed in 2010 and will be the world’s largest rice bran oil manufacturing plant, with the capacity to produce in excess of $200 million in annual gross revenues based on today’s market prices. Both companies are also anticipating future projects together, including constructing additional facilities of similar size.

According to the terms of the agreement, NutraCea will provide 80 percent of the capital and retain 72 percent of

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