Financial News

SLOUGH, England — Reckitt Benckiser has realized a greater value out of its 1-year-old acquisition of Schiff, which moved the consumer product goods conglomerate into the dietary supplement arena, and expects to push that VMS business to greater heights in the coming year, Rakesh Kapoor, Reckitt Benckiser CEO and executive director told analysts during a conference call Tuesday. 

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway on Tuesday afternoon announced that Canada's Competition Bureau has entered into a consent agreement with Sobeys, allowing the parties to proceed with their transaction whereby Sobeys will acquire the net assets of Canada Safeway.  

The parties now expect to close the transaction in early November 2013.

As part of the consent agreement, Sobeys has agreed to divest 23 stores — 13 Canada Safeway stores and 10 Sobeys stores.

NEW YORK — All or part of Safeway soon may be a target for a possible buyout, according to a Reuters report published Wednesday morning citing people familiar with the matter. 

According to the report, several buyout firms, including Cerberus Capital Management, are exploring a deal for the supermarket chain currently valued at $8 billion. 

NEWARK, Calif. — Drug maker Depomed has sold its interests in royalty and milestone payments for several Type 2 diabetes drugs to PDL BioPharma, Depomed said.

The drug maker announced that it had sold its interest in the Type 2 diabetes therapeutic area to PDL for $240.5 million, which it plans to use to acquire rights to products it said would drive long-term growth and build on its expertise in pain and neurology.

NEW YORK — Despite many forecasts of a gloomy holiday season for retailers, Deloitte is predicting an increase in consumer spending. Deloitte's 28th annual survey of holiday spending intentions and trends indicates shoppers surveyed plan to spend an average of $421 on holiday gifts this year, up from $386 last year. They also expect to buy an average of 12.9 gifts, ending a five-year decline in the number of gifts they plan to purchase.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Biotech drug maker Amgen has acquired from Roche the rights to drugs used to boost the immune systems of cancer patients on chemotherapy in 100 markets.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — One-third (33%) of U.S. families are making less money as a result of job loss, moving to a part-time job and/or working at a lower-paying job.

In addition, according to three recent consumer surveys from America’s Research Group, 40% of parents are trying to save as much money as they can for their children's college education, 38% of families did not take a vacation this year of four days or longer, and 44% of parents will do most of their back-to-school apparel shopping in December when the deals are better.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway on Friday announced that its board of directors increased the authorized level of the company's stock repurchase program by $2 billion. Through the end of the third quarter of 2013, Safeway had approximately $0.8 billion remaining under its previously authorized stock repurchase program.

Safeway's stock repurchase authorization does not have an expiration date, and the timing of repurchases will depend on market conditions.