LR's Lost Forty brewery wins 2 medals
Little Rock-based Lost Forty Brewing won two bronze medals last week at the World Beer Cup competition in Nashville.
Lost Forty won a medal in the Experimental Beer-Style category for its Wild Barrels Project No. 5. The beer was brewed in cooperation with Little Rock-based Void Cellars and is based on Lost Forty's Day Drinker Belgian Blonde, according to a release. The brewery's second medal was in the German-Style Doppelbock or Eisbock category for Lost Forty's Double Love Honey Doppelbock.
Jonathan Martin, president of the Arkansas Brewer's Guild and owner of Bubba Brew's Brewing Co. near Hot Springs, said the medals are prestigious and he's proud an Arkansas brewery placed so well in the competition.
"They're really pushing the envelope," Martin said of Lost Forty.
The Brewers Association, a trade group supporting craft breweries in the U.S., said the beers were judged over a three-day period by a panel of 295 judges from 33 countries. Of the 2,515 participating breweries, 807 were from outside the U.S. Overall, 242 U.S. breweries took home medals.
-- John Magsam
Nissan dropping diesel sales in Europe
Nissan Motor Co. will stop sales of diesel cars in Europe as the region moves to tougher emission standards after Volkswagen AG's pollution-test scandal.
Japan's second-largest carmaker will stop offering diesel versions of passenger cars at the time of each vehicle's renewal in the coming years, Nicholas Maxfield, a spokesman in Tokyo, said Monday. The automaker will concentrate on pushing sales of electrified vehicles, he said.
Diesel-car sales in Europe slumped after Volkswagen admitted to cheating on emission tests in 2015, and demand for such models is set to fall further as regulators put tougher standards into place starting 2020. Nissan's plan follows that of Toyota Motor Corp., which said in March it will phase out diesel engines from all its passenger cars beginning this year.
Nissan sold 128,456 diesel cars in Europe last year, or about 16 percent of its total deliveries in the region, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. It manufactures diesel passenger cars such as the Juke and Qashqai in Sunderland, England, and the Micra compact in Flins, France.
-- Bloomberg News
Nestle pays $7B to sell Starbucks coffee
SEATTLE -- Nestle is paying more than $7 billion to handle global retail sales of Starbucks' coffee and tea outside of its coffee shops.
The deal comes with a huge price tag for Nestle, but it could pay off big for the Swiss company. Its Nescafe and Nespresso don't carry anywhere near the heft in America that the Starbucks brand does with its $2 billion in annual sales.
The deal gives Nestle the rights to market, sell and distribute Starbucks, Seattle's Best Coffee, Starbucks Reserve, Teavana, Starbucks VIA and Torrefazione Italia packaged coffee and tea. It will also be able to put the Starbucks brand on Nestle single-serve capsules. The agreement excludes bottled drinks such as ice coffees and Frappuccinos that are sold in and outside of Starbucks stores.
Nestle had hinted last year that it was looking at focusing on higher-growth areas such as pet care, coffee and infant nutrition. In January it announced it was selling its U.S. candy business to Italy's Ferrero for approximately $2.8 billion.
Nestle announced Monday that Starbucks Corp. will receive $7.15 billion in an up-front cash payment. Approximately 500 Starbucks employees will join Nestle, and operations will continue to be located in Seattle.
The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close by the end of the year.
-- The Associated Press
AIG off Icahn's big-investment roster
Billionaire Carl Icahn appears to have cut his major holding in American International Group Inc.
The insurer was absent from Icahn Enterprises LP's list of its biggest investments, according to a presentation dated Thursday. In a March 1 slide show, AIG had the highest market value of any of the company's holdings, at $2.56 billion as of Dec. 31, or 4.8 percent of the common stock outstanding.
AIG shares rose 44 cents to close Monday at $53.28.
Icahn had faulted the insurer in October 2015 for not meeting profitability targets, and he and hedge fund manager John Paulson pressured AIG to simplify the company. Last year Icahn eased off his demands for a breakup after AIG sold assets and brought on a new chief executive officer.
AIG reported first-quarter results last week that fell short of analysts' estimates, and investors dumped the shares as they wait for more evidence of a turnaround.
-- Bloomberg News
ZTE asks U.S. to suspend business ban
HONG KONG -- Chinese technology company ZTE says it has applied to the U.S. Commerce Department asking it to suspend a seven-year ban on it doing business with U.S. technology exporters.
The company said in a statement late Sunday that it had "formally submitted" a request to the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security for a "stay of the Denial Order."
It said it sent the bureau "supplemental information" after the ban. It gave no details in its brief statement.
ZTE Corp., which makes smartphones and telecoms equipment, was hit with the ban last month in a case involving exports of telecom gear to Iran and North Korea. The company has said that the ban threatens its existence by cutting off access to U.S. suppliers of key components such as microchips.
The suspension came amid worsening trade tensions between the U.S. and China centered on technology-related intellectual property, though the case dates back to before President Donald Trump took office in January 2017. U.S. officials met last week in Beijing to discuss trade issues with their Chinese counterparts. During the meetings, Chinese officials said they also raised their objections to ZTE's punishment with the U.S. delegation, who they said agreed to report them to Trump.
U.S. authorities imposed the penalty after discovering that Shenzhen-based ZTE, which had paid a $1.2 billion fine in the case, had failed to discipline employees involved and paid them bonuses instead.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 05/08/2018