?Shilpa Shetty Kundra becomes the brand ambassador for Yakult Danone India

Danone North America has added a new range of Oatmilk Yogurt Alternatives to its So Delicious Dairy Free portfolio in the US.

The new line of product is available in four flavours, including triple berry, spiced pear and fig, strawberry rhubarb, and sweet mango. It is created using gluten-free oats, along with live and active cultures. Each of the variants is dairy-free, nut-free, soy-free, certified vegan, certified gluten-free and Non-GMO Project verified.

Joshua Cook, Brand Manager of plant-based yogurt for So Delicious Dairy Free, said, “We couldn’t be more excited to expand our portfolio and bring Oatmilk Yogurt Alternatives to consumers from coast to coast.”

“Oat milk’s creamy texture is the perfect base for a yogurt alternative, and each of our artisanal flavours has been thoughtfully chosen to excite taste buds. The new Oatmilk Yogurt Alternatives are perfect for a morning breakfast, an on-the-go snack or as an ingredient in other delicious dairy-free delights,” he further stated.

Danone’s So Delicious Dairy Free portfolio comprises of a range of dairy-free creamers, yogurts, frozen desserts and beverages. So Delicious Dairy Free was acquired by Danone in 2016 as part of its $12.5 billion takeover of WhiteWave Foods.

Danone North America, the world’s largest yogurt producer, has launched its Two Good Greek yogurt range with three new flavours, including black cherry, coconut and plain, in the United States. The additions have more than 80% less sugar than the average Greek yogurt.

The newly introduced variants consist of 2g of total sugar, 12g of protein and 80 calories per 5.3oz serving.

The Two Good line was released earlier this year. It was created with a patent-pending, slow-straining batching process that removes the sugar from the milk used to make the yogurt.

Danone eyes to add more flavors to its Two Good Greek yogurt range. These include vanilla, mixed berry, peach, strawberry, and blueberry.

Recently, Danone North America has also unveiled Oat Yeah Oatmilk Yogurt Alternatives. This combine gluten-free oats with live and active cultures to develop a creamy, craveable yogurt.

Danone posted a 0.8% year-on-year sales rise to €6.13 billion in its most recent quarterly results. The company is still on track to achieve 3% like-for-like sales growth for the full year.

Danone, French multinational food products giant, is leading an investment of Rs 182 crore into local yogurt maker Epigamia. This move will help the company to retain a presence in the Indian market.

Laurent Marcel, MD of Danone's venture investment arm, said, "This is a minority venture investment, so Epigamia will continue to operate independently."

Danone will be collaborating with Epigamia in areas of brand management, distribution expansion, manufacturing, quality and food safety. Though, this investment will be independent of Danone’s business in the country.

"This is a promising opportunity to partner with a modern and agile consumer brand which is attractive to millennials and positioned in a dynamic and high potential market," Marcel added.

The fresh funding will help Epigamia to execute an ambitious business plan that entails rolling out its dairy products distribution across 25 cities in India.

French foods giant Danone has decided to exit the dairy business in India. The company which entered India in 2010 is rationalising its product portfolio and has discontinued stock keeping units (SKUs), which have been making a minority contribution to its overall business in India that include the UHT (ultra high treatment) and fresh dairy products.

In line with this, Danone’s factory at Rai near Delhi has discontinued production.

Danone under the leadership of its India MD Rodrigo Lima, plans to focus on its nutrition business that it had acquired from Wockhardt in 2012, for about Rs 1,500 crore. In 2015, the company consolidated its India business by merging the two portfolios (dairy and nutrition).

Danone was incurring losses on its dairy business which includes milk, flavoured yogurt, buttermilk, cold coffee, curd and smoothies and could not sustain maintaining its margin. The company was unable to compete with national giants like Amul, Mother Dairy and other regional brands.

In a statement, Danone said it has decided to rationalise its product portfolio in India to allow for accelerated investments and a sharper focus on growing its nutrition portfolio which is more than 90% of the business. The company said Danone has a stated goal to double its nutrition business in India by 2020 in line with its global mission to ‘bring health through food to as many people as possible’ and this renewed focus is key to achieving this goal.

Danone India Spokesperson said “We have great ambitions for our business in India and remain committed to invest and grow in India through well-established brands such as Protinex, Aptamil, Farex, Dexolac and Neocate. In order to maximise growth opportunities, we are continuously analysing our portfolio and sharpening our focus to accelerate investments on the best performing categories and products. For this reason, we will discontinue some of the SKU’s sold in India. Our focus is to bring nutritionally superior and relevant products to India, and 2017 has been a testimony of that with 10 new launches including some from our global portfolio”.

Entry of new variants in the health foods sector in India has caused growing competition among brands. To counter intense pressure from new entrants from giants such as Nestle, Danone and Abbot, GSK’s Horlicks has decided to drop its price by almost a fifth for its low unit packs to boost sales in small towns.

On the other hand, it is stepping up launches of high margin specialised variants.

Manoj Kumar, Managing Director, GSKCH said, “The category is having a volume growth problem. The rural economy has not been good over the last two years. So, the slowdown of the small town phenomenon over the last two years hurt this category the most.”

There has been a spurt of activity from rivals in the past two months that possess a threat to Horlick’s share. Last month, Nestle relaunched its fortified milk drink Milo with under 10% sucrose per pack. French firm Danone SA’s also introduced its health drink Protinex Grow into market.

Other products like Abbot’s Pediasure and Ensure and US firm Mead Johnson’s Enfagrow, a nutritional milk powder for kids, made their entry into the market.

In February, Danone announced that it expects to double India revenue by 2020 and that it will introduce 10 products in health and nutrition segment this year.

While India is the second largest country after the US in terms of topline for GSK Consumer, the Gurgaon-based firm continues to depend heavily on Horlicks. The brand and its variants contributing 75% to its total sales.

Kumar said, “Since a significant portion of our category is in rural and small towns, we are very much linked to the revival of the economy there. We are playing both the mass and high-science segment with clinical claims. GSK will be attacking the premium segment willing to pay for functional and life stage products on one end and lower prices in the mass segment which is looking for value on the other end.”

Kumar added, “The government’s focus on the rural economy and a good monsoon last year did help revive the category, but the demonetisation move again stalled consumption. However, the revival of the rural economy and reversing pricing of sachets by 20% should move sales, as consumers tend to enter the category and then upgrade.”

Sachet prices of Horlicks have been dropped from Rs 6 to Rs 5.

Danone India Pvt. Ltd, the local unit of the world’s largest yogurt maker, has introduced its brand of Greek yogurt, its third product launch in as many months, as it seeks to expand its range of products and market share in India.

The firm aims to introduce about 10 products in 2017 as part of a plan to double revenue by 2020.

Rodrigo Lima, Managing Director, Danone India, said, "We will leverage our global expertise in yogurts to build the category in India and establish the relevance for the category through the right product innovation. The dairy division is poised for a healthy growth with new product offerings."

Lima, in an interview, said the company will be concentrating on its nutrition business. Besides expanding offering in existing infant foods business, the maker of Farex baby food and Protinex supplements will tap the medical nutrition business by June and is looking at launching packaged drinking water from its global portfolio in India.

Dairy company Danone has announced expansion plans in the health-food-drinks (HFDs) segment with the launch of Protinex Grow, a health drink especially formulated for adolescents.

The product will be launched in West Bengal and Karnataka in the first phase. These States collectively have a market share of 22% of the family HFD business of India, the company said.

Rodrigo Lima, Managing Director, Danone India, said, "The launch of Protinex Grow is a unique innovation in the family Health Food Drinks’ segment that addresses the specific protein requirements of children during the second growth spurt."

He added, "We have aggressive plans to double our sales in the nutrition portfolio by 2020 and also grow the overall business in India. We have lined up 10 new launches this year to expand our portfolio. We recently launched our global infant formula brand Aptamil in India."

Protinex is a nutritional supplements brand formulated with hydrolysed proteins that caters to the nutritional needs of adults and children.

British consumer goods maker Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc is in advanced talks to buy baby formula maker Mead Johnson Nutrition Co for USD16.7 billion, in a deal that would take it in a new direction and boost its business in Asia.

Reckitt, known for its cleaning and over-the-counter health products, said it was in talks to offer USD90 in cash for each Mead Johnson share, a 29.5 percent premium to the stock's closing price.

Shares of Mead Johnson, long rumoured to be a takeover target for Danone or Nestle, jumped 22 percent in after-market trading. At 0808 GMT, Reckitt shares in London were up 3.7 percent at 7,084 pence.

Mead Johnson, which makes Enfamil baby formula, has been seen as a bid target since being spun off from drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2009, due in part to its big presence in Latin America and Asia, regions with fast-growing populations.

Reckitt, which makes Durex condoms, Nurofen tablets, Lysol cleaners and Scholl footcare products, was not seen as an obvious buyer given it is not in the baby food business and its overall food business is very small.

Still, Reckitt's focus on consumer health products, or health-related goods sold over the counter, makes Mead Johnson a good fit, analysts said.

"It's a branded consumer proposition with healthcare-y attributes," said RBC Capital Markets analysts, adding the absence of any product overlap meant antitrust scrutiny would be minimal.

Reckitt's proposed price represents a multiple of 17 times Mead Johnson's estimated 2017 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), said analysts at Wells Fargo, falling short of the 20 times Nestle paid for Wyeth in 2012 and the 22 times Danone paid for Numico in 2007.

Still, the premium is in line with other recent consumer staples deals, and is appropriate given regulatory changes in China and price promotion, the analysts said.

Reckitt said it expected to finance the proposed deal through cash and debt.

"The parties are presently engaged in a period of due diligence and contract discussion," it said in a statement. Mead Johnson also confirmed the discussions in a statement.

Sources told Reuters in 2014 that Danone was interested in buying Mead Johnson but the French company has since agreed to buy WhiteWave, known for its soy- and nut-based milks, reducing the chances of a counterbid.

Speculation regarding a bid by Nestle recently resurfaced after a media report citing unidentified sources, yet Nestle's existing baby formula business would likely throw up antitrust concerns.

Danone, a global food company with a mission 'to bring health through food to as many people as possible', has announced plans to strengthen its Nutrition business in India starting with the launch of its globally popular Infant formula brand Aptamil.

Rodrigo Lima, Managing Director, Danone India said, "The introduction of Aptamil range in India is a landmark step since this is the first time we are bringing our global infant formula products range to India. We have aggressive plans to introduce many new products in India this year to strengthen our Nutrition portfolio. At Danone we ensure that our products are tailored to meet the nutritional needs of different consumer groups, based on the latest science and local nutritional insights."

He added, "For us Make in India is central to our growth strategy and Aptamil will also be manufactured in India at our world class facility at Lalru, Punjab. We have invested over Rs 150 cr to upgrade the machinery at this plant that we acquired from Wockhardt in 2012."

Danone engages with farmers in Punjab through a Program on Sustainable dairy farming to improve the quality of milk and ensure a sustainable supply of good quality milk.