Genius development
West Lothian-based United Central Bakeries plans to roll out 18 new products under its gluten-free fresh bread brand, Genius, next year. Listings have already been agreed with supermarkets for launches at the end of January. Genius recently won a Gold Q award at the Quality Food Awards.

Costa’s green moves
Costa Coffee has announced the proposed acquisition of European coffee and sandwich chain coffeeheaven. It revealed it would offer 24p for each coffeeheaven share, in a deal worth around £36m. The coffeeheaven group operates 90 coffee shops in Central and Eastern Europe, including 62 shops in Poland. Costa’s total sales increased 6.7% in the third quarter, beating the 2.4% growth it registered in the previous quarter.

Bank lending critique
The Forum of Private Business (FPB) has said bank lending needs to be more accessible and affordable, following the outcome of a report, Rowland’s Growth Capital Review, which identified a permanent gap in small business finance those seeking between £2m-£10m.

International deal
Campden BRI has signed a collaborative agreement with the Korea Food Research Institute (KFRI), based in Kyonggi-do, to explore joint ventures in research, technical services and information provision. For example, they will exchange best-practice in areas such as food safety assurance, and low energy and low carbon technologies.

Packaging agreement
Mail and packaging specialist KernPack is now the official distributor of Italian packaging firm Dolzan’s range of vertical form fill and seal packaging machines to the UK market.