Newspaper Page Text
Jeff Gill | Business reporter
770-718-3408 | jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia
Saturday, December 1,2018
CE73 business
Big businesses in disguise
Wildscape protein bowls are produced by a unit of Nestle, though its affiliation with the food giant is not on the packaging.
Major food makers launch stealth small brands’ to lure consumers
BY KRISTEN LEIGH PAINTER
Tribune News Service
Everything about Maker Overnight
Oats — the name, the packaging, the
founders’ story — screams food startup.
The oats come in glass jars. The flavors
include mulberry & chia. On its website,
the founders’ job titles are “Chief Rain
maker” and “Chief Troublemaker.”
But Maker is actually the creation of
Quaker Oats Co., a unit of PepsiCo, and
it’s part of a wave of new products from
big food companies that look like they’re
from small ones.
Golden Valley-based General Mills is
the maker of a little-known brand of paleo-
certified, grain-free granola products
called Autumn’s Gold. Kellogg Co. cre
ated Joybol smoothie bowls. Nestle USA
created Wildscape, a line of frozen food
entrees with ingredients such as freekeh,
turmeric farro and the Korean pepper
paste gochujang.
Food industry consultant Victor Mar
tino calls them the “stealth small brands.”
In a column for the website Just-Food, he
described them as “intentionally designed
to look like it comes from a startup.”
They represent a minuscule portion of
the overall business of the food giants. But
their very existence shows that the big-
name companies are going to new lengths
to compete with startups that are grabbing
consumers with innovations in ingredi
ents, packaging and stories.
Whether people buy these products
will largely depend on how genuine their
purpose seems, said Susan Viamari, vice
president of IRI, a Chicago-based con
sumer research firm.
“Even if they aren’t truly local brands,
they feel more specialized,” Viamari said.
In IRI’s most recent Pacesetters report,
which analyzes the most successful new
products annually, more than a quarter
of the top-performing food launches last
year were from companies earning less
than $1 billion. That’s a steep increase
from five years ago when small compa
nies held a low double-digit share of the
most successful launches, Viamari said.
“We are seeing a lot of (consumer) dol
lars shift from the traditional large brands
to the small and very small brands. A
huge factor is that authenticity,” she said.
“There’s a lot more riding on a brand’s
ability to address very personalized con
sumer needs ... really just zeroing in on
the things that matter to the individual
consumer.’
Large food companies constantly
launch new products. Many are offshoots
of existing popular items, like General
Mills’ Cheerios Oat Crunch. Others come
through acquisition, like Epic Provisions,
a small Texas company General Mills
acquired in 2016.
This new method emulates the look and
feel of a startup, often with no visible con
nection to the big brand behind it. And for
the most part, it seems the big companies
don’t want to talk about such efforts.
PepsiCo declined to answer questions
for this article. Maker Overnight Oats
is a part of its in-house incubator called
the Hive, which creates new brands and
builds others that it acquired.
In a news release this summer, Pep
siCo described the Hive as a place where
ideas developed by employees and out
side experts get to market faster. “We
will channel that experience in this team
to act with the agility of a small com
pany, but with access to the knowledge,
scale and resources of PepsiCo,” Seth
Kaufman, a PepsiCo president, said at the
time.
Other packaged food companies have
launched similar in-house innovation
hubs to identify new trends and create
corresponding food offerings.
Separately, many of these large com
panies have established venture capital
units, like General Mills’ 301 Inc, which
invests in outside, early stage companies
that could be a potential acquisition in the
future.
But the Autumn’s Gold business is
different. The company developed the
paleo-certified line and has developed
limited distribution for it through Costco
and Amazon. Autumn’s Gold isn’t on Gen
eral Mills’ list of brands on its website. A
small distribution and copyright notice
under the ingredient list indicates the
brand’s provenance.
The company declined an interview
request about the brand. In a statement,
it said, “At General Mills we bring new
brands into our family through a variety
of levers.... There isn’t one single strategy
or approach that we take for every new
idea or brand concept.... It’s important
to have multiple types of innovation and
always experiment to increase our odds
of success and fuel sustainable growth.”
MARK LENNIHAN I Associated Press
Aldi’s Wine Advent Calendar is displayed, Nov.
26, in New York.
Advent calendars
change up treats
BY JOSEPH PISANI
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Advent calendars, typically
filled with chocolates, are now being stuffed
with cans of beer and bottles of wine. Others
have chunks of cheese behind each door.
They’re meant to appeal to nostalgic adults
who want to count the days till Christmas with
something other than sweets. They’re sold for
a limited time, get major social media buzz and
tend to sell out quickly.
Many are available in the United States
for the first time this year after gaining popu
larity during the past few holiday seasons in
Europe. German grocer Aldi, for instance, says
it brought its wine advent calendar to its U.S.
stores after selling it in the United Kingdom last
year. It also introduced a new cheese one.
Dara Collins waited outside an Aldi store
before 9 a.m. in early November to buy the
advent calendars after she saw them on Twit
ter. One had 24 mini bottles of prosecco and
pinot grigio for $69.99. The cheese one, which
cost $12.99, had rectangular-shaped Cheddar
and havarti. Collins didn’t wait to open them:
She drank a bottle of bubbly wine and ate a
piece of cheese weeks before Dec. 1.
Adult advent calendars fit into an ongoing
trend: people who want products and experi
ences that “let them embrace their inner child,”
says Caleb Bryant, a senior beverage analyst at
trend-tracking firm Mintel. “Kids don’t need to
have all the fun with advent calendars,” he says.
Ian Hamilton, a radio producer in Manches
ter, England, bought a cheese advent calendar
last year and tweeted that it was “probably the
best day of my life.”
“Chocolate was getting a little bit boring,”
Hamilton says.
One sour note: unlike the chocolate ones, the
cheese advent calendar needs to be chilled, so
he had to pull it out of the fridge each time to
show it off to guests. He still bought another one
this year: “I definitely don’t want to miss out.”
The inventor of the cheese calendar is Annem
Hobson, who credits herself with creating it
back in 2015 when she deconstructed a Cadbury
one and replaced the chocolates with Gouda
and German smoked cheese. “I’ve always been
a fan of savory things,” says Hobson.
Ex-US official admits charges linked to Malaysian scandal
BY MICHAEL BALSAM0
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A former Jus
tice Department official admitted
his role Friday in a multimillion-
dollar effort to try to get the United
States to drop its investigation into
a money laundering and bribery
scheme that pilfered billions from
a Malaysian investment fund.
George Higginbotham’s guilty
plea in federal court in Washington
marked the first public acknowl
edgement of an attempt to pressure
American officials to drop their
probe of the fund known as 1MDB.
The massive corruption investi
gation, which upended Malaysian
politics, spanned the globe with the
money from the fund gambled in
Las Vegas, spent on diamond jew
elry and a luxury yacht and used
to finance the “Wolf of Wall Street”
and other Hollywood productions.
The long-ruling coalition in Malay
sia was ousted in a May election,
and then-Prime Minister Najib
Razak, who set up the fund, now
faces criminal charges there.
Prosecutors say Higginbotham,
who worked on the congressional
affairs staff in the Justice Depart
ment’s Office of Justice Programs,
helped open bank accounts and cre
ated false loan documents for shell
companies to pay an influential
person to pressure officials to drop
their probe. That person’s identity
wasn’t revealed in court.
Authorities allege that Higgin
botham’s efforts were also meant
to conceal the involvement of an
unidentified co-conspirator, who
prosecutors say was an architect of
1MDB and because of that, banks
wouldn’t do business with him
directly. Higginbotham admitted
in court that bank accounts and
shell companies were set up in
2017 because the influential person
didn’t want to be directly tied to the
co-conspirator.
Higginbotham falsely claimed
in emails to banks that the money
was used to fund entertainment
ventures and failed to disclose that
it was being used to finance the lob
bying effort to shut down the 1MDB
investigation, prosecutors said.
Higginbotham also traveled to a
foreign country to meet with that
co-conspirator and was ultimately
paid $70,000 for his involvement,
authorities said. Higginbotham
would not answer questions as he
left court Friday.
Authorities say Higginbotham
was also part of an effort to try to
have a foreign national, who had
been critical of his home country
and was in the U.S. on a visa, thrown
out of America and sent back to his
nation. Prosecutors charge that
Higginbotham met with the ambas
sador of that country and told them
he was acting personally and not on
behalf of the Justice Department,
but that the U.S. government was
working on expelling the person.
Higginbotham told the judge that
$41 million placed in an escrow
account was supposed to be paid
out to the politically connected per
son once the foreign national was
removed from the U.S.
U.S. District Judge Colleen
Kollar-Kotelly said Higginbotham
likely faced a sentence of up to 16
months in federal prison, but said
he could also face no jail time.
As part of a plea deal, Higginbo
tham has agreed to testify before
grand juries and speak to federal
investigators.
Higginbotham pleaded guilty
to a charge of conspiracy to make
false statements to a bank and was
released without bail on Friday. He
is due back in court in March.
Stock Exchange Highlights
I
NYSE
12,457.55 +68.18
I
Nasdaq
7,330.54 +57.45
Gainers ($2 or more)
Name Last Chg %Chg
EQTGPn 20.02
UnivTInst 3.22
Cosan Ltd 8.89
KimbRoyn 18.30
Dycom 66.26
JAlexHId n 10.22
BiohvnPh n 33.99
ChinaYuch 14.05
Ampco 4.30
CmtyHIt 4.75
+3.00 +17.6
+.42 +15.0
+.80 +9.9
+1.46
+5.23
+.81
+2.41
+.97
+.29
+.31
+8.7
+8.6
+8.6
+7.6
+7.4
+7.2
+7.0
Losers (S2 or more)
Name
Last Chg %Chg
VivintSolar 5.47
Yext n 14.52
AmTrFn 55 17.42
AmTrFn 7.518.00
Frontlne rs 7.26
KeyEngy 5.83
X Finl n 7.00
Navios pfG 4.91
LabCp 145.64
Maiden pfC 10.00
-1.53 -21.9
-3.69 -20.3
-3.27 -15.8
-3.15 -14.9
-.86 -10.6
-.67 -10.3
-.80 -10.3
-.55 -10.1
-16.17 -10.0
-1.10 -9.9
Most Active ($1 on more)
Name Vol (00) Last Chg
GenElec 1869295
AT&T Inc 804517
BkofAm 642364
Pfizer 427298
LambWst n 393843
NY CmtyB 390151
FordM 362554
Alibaba 350222
VerizonCm 311376
ChesEng 310235
7.50 -.44
31.24 +.67
28.40 +.36
46.23 +.72
76.70 -.04
10.63 +.07
9.41 +.04
160.86 +4.58
60.30 +.85
2.92 -.11
Diary
Advanced
Declined
Unchanged
Total issues
New Highs
New Lows
Volume
1,546
1,277
75
2,898
53
229
4,606,354,753
Gainers ($2 or more)
Name Last Chg %Chg
BorqsTch 5.70
AdialPh n 3.84
Ambarella 39.99
IntecPhm n 6.92
Gamida n 15.41
ICAD 4.34
Greenpro n 2.77
MarinSft rs 2.83
Workday 164.00
CideraTh n 3.64
+3.14+122.7
+1.04 +37.1
+6.24 +18.5
+1.01 +17.1
+1.87 +13.8
+.52 +13.6
+.33 +13.3
+.33 +13.2
+18.70 +12.9
+.41 +12.7
Losers ($2 or more)
Name
Last Chg %Chg
TonixP hrs 5.19
AeroViron 76.60
Sphr3D grs 5.26
RevenFlo n 2.97
Sprouts 23.02
AridisPh n 10.60
TenaxTh rs 2.16
Windstm rs 3.01
Uxin Ltd n 3.29
CitiTrends 20.50
-1.78 -25.5
15.08 -16.4
-1.02 -16.2
-.55 -15.6
-4.01 -14.8
-1.80 -14.5
-.32 -12.9
-.37 -10.9
-.39 -10.6
-2.37 -10.4
Most Active ($1 or more)
Name Vol (00) Last Chg
AMD
Maximlntg
Intel
Cisco
Apple Inc
Comcast s
Microsoft
DiambkEn
SiriusXM
MicronT
820980
557217
432759
415950
394125
380532
336414
330238
322838
281079
21.30
55.92
49.31
47.87
178.58
39.01
110.89
110.38
6.23
38.56
-.13
+.58
+1.61
+.53
-.97
-.41
+.70
-1.62
-.09
+.65
Diary
Advanced
Declined
Unchanged
Total issues
New Highs
New Lows
Volume
1,643
1,334
128
3,105
48
105
2,496,079,042
Stocks of Local Interest
Name Ex
YTD
Div Yld PE Last Chg %Chg
AFLAC S
1.04
2.3
14
45.74
+.34 0.0
HomeDp
4.12
2.3
20
180.32
+4.66
-4.9
AT&T Inc
2.00
6.4
6
31.24
+.67 -19.7
Intel
1.20
2.4
18
49.31
+1.61
+6.8
AbbottLab
1.12
1.5
31
74.05
+.79 +29.8
IBM
6.28
5.1
9
124.27
+2.79
-19.0
AMD
21.30
-.13+107.2
JohnJn
3.60
2.5
21
146.90
+1.05
+5.1
Altria
3.20
5.8
17
54.83
-1.11 -23.2
LambWst n
.77
1.0
26
76.70
-.04
+35.9
Annaly
1.20 12.0
11
10.04
-.02 -15.6
Lowes
1.92
2.0
21
94.37
+1.17
+1.5
Apple Inc
2.92
1.6
18
178.58
-.97 +5.5
Maximlntg
1.84
3.3
22
55.92
+.58
+7.0
ATMOS
1.94
2.0
18
95.67 +2.22 +11.4
McDnlds
4.64
2.5
29
188.51
+.41
+9.5
AutoZone
17
809.07
16.76 +13.7
Merck
2.20
2.8
30
79.34
+1.43
+41.0
AveryD
2.26
2.3
28
96.40
+1.07 -16.1
MicronT
3
38.56
+.65
-6.2
BB&T Cp
1.62
3.2
15
51.10
+.50 +2.8
Microsoft
1.84
1.7
46
110.89
+.70
+29.6
BP PLC
2.38
5.9
12
40.35
-.13 -4.0
NY CmtyB
.68
6.4
13
10.63
+.07
-18.4
BkofAm
.60
2.1
13
28.40
+.36 -3.8
NorflkSo
3.20
1.9
26
170.74
+2.30
+17.8
BarnesNob
.60
7.9
7.57
+.35 +13.0
OfficeDpt
.10
3.1
9
3.23
-.06
-8.8
Boeing
6.84
2.0
32
346.76
+4.20 +17.6
Oracle
.76
1.6
52
48.76
+.86
+3.1
BrMySq
1.60
3.0
53
53.46
+1.64 -12.8
Penney
1.43
-54.7
CSX
.88
1.2
10
72.63
+.86 +32.0
PepsiCo
3.71
3.0
35
121.94
+3.67
+1.7
CampSp
1.40
3.6
14
39.20
-.43 -18.5
Pfizer
1.36
2.9
18
46.23
+.72
+27.6
Caterpillar
3.44
2.5
13
135.67
+5.44 -13.9
PhilipMor
4.56
5.3
21
86.53
-.43
-18.1
ChesEng
5
2.92
-.11 -26.3
Primerica
1.00
.8
14
118.88
-.25
+17.1
Chevron
4.48
3.8
25
118.94
+.09 -5.0
ProctGam
2.87
3.0
23
94.51
+1.69
+2.9
Cisco
1.32
2.8
24
47.87
+.53 +25.0
RegionsFn
.56
3.4
14
16.45
+.24
-4.8
Citigroup
1.80
2.8
11
64.79
-.11 -12.9
SiriusXM
.05
.8
35
6.23
-.09
+16.2
CocaCola
1.56
3.1
95
50.40
+1.42 +9.9
SouthnCo
2.40
5.1
22
47.33
+.79
-1.6
Comcast s
.76
1.9
19
39.01
-.41 -2.2
Starbucks s1.44
2.2
30
66.72
-.16
+16.2
ConAgra
.85
2.6
16
32.34
+.07 -14.1
Stericycle
48.07
-.14
-29.3
Cummins
4.56
3.0
42
151.06
+2.86 -14.5
SunTrst
2.00
3.2
11
62.69
+.20
-2.9
DiambkEn
.50
.5
19
110.38
-1.62 -12.6
SynovusFn 1.00
2.6
13
37.81
+.28
-21.1
Disney
1.76
1.5
16
115.49
-1.12 +7.4
3M Co
5.44
2.6
29
207.92
+3.36
-11.7
DowDuPnt
1.52
2.6
18
57.85
+.61 -18.8
Torchmark
.64
.7
7
86.41
-.91
-4.7
EnCana g
.06
.9
11
6.72
-.25 -49.6
Twitter
31.45
+.15
+31.0
Equifax
1.56
1.5
18
102.67
-.13 -12.9
Tyson
1.20
2.0
11
58.95
+1.23
-27.3
ExxonMbl
3.28
4.1
15
79.50
+.44 -4.9
UtdCmBks
.64
2.5
15
25.85
+.59
-8.1
Facebook
26
140.61
+1.93 -20.3
UPS B
3.64
3.2
19
115.29
+2.03
-3.2
FordM
.60
6.4
5
9.41
+.04 -24.7
VerizonCm
2.41
4.0
8
60.30
+.85
+13.9
GenElec
.48
6.4
7.50
-.44 -57.1
Vodafone
1.74
8.1
21.49
+.18
-32.6
GenuPrt
2.88
2.8
22
103.71
+.62 +9.2
WalMart
2.08
2.1
56
97.65
+.36
-1.1
HP Inc
.64
2.8
7
23.00
+.14 +9.5
Weathflntl
.57
-.04
-86.3
Haverty
.72
3.5
21
20.49
-.04 -9.5
WeisMk
1.24
2.7
11
45.80
-1.61
+10.7
HeliosM rs
.02
-.00-100.0
WellsFargo 1.72
3.2
13
54.28
+.24
-10.5
Hershey
2.89
2.7
24
108.30
+.85 -4.6
YumBrnds
1.44
1.6
33
92.22
+.36
+13.0
Name Ex
YTD
Div Yld PE Last Chg %Chg
Stock Footnotes: g = Dividends and earnings in Canadian dollars, h = Does not meet continued-listing standards. If = Late filing
with SEC. n = New in past 52 weeks, pf = Preferred, rs = Stock has undergone a reverse stock split of at least 50 percent within the
past year, rt = Right to buy security at a specified price, s = Stock has split by at least 20 percent within the last year, un = Units, vj
= In bankruptcy or receivership, wd = When distributed, wi = When issued, wt = Warrants. Fund Footnotes: m - Multiple fees are
charged, usually a marketing fee and either a sales or redemption fee. Source: The Associated Press. Sales figures are unofficial.
Stock Market Indexes
Dow Jones industrials
Close: 25,538.46
Change: 199.62 (0.8%)
27,200
26,400
25,600
24,800
25,560
24,900
24,240 10 DAYS
J
J A
S
O
N
52-Week
Net
YTD
12-mo
High
Low
Name
Last
Chg
%Chg
%Chg
%Chg
26,951.81
23,344.52
Dow Industrials
25,538.46
+199.62
+.79
+3.31
+5.39
11,623.58
9,565.44
Dow Transportation
10,820.20
+140.40
+1.31
+1.96
+6.22
773.78
647.81
Dow Utilities
741.92
+12.84
+1.76
+2.56
-3.29
13,637.02
11,820.33
NYSE Composite
12,457.55
+68.18
+.55
-2.74
-1.24
8,133.30
6,630.67
Nasdaq Composite
7,330.54
+57.45
+.79
+6.19
+7.05
1,309.73
1,118.69
S&P 100
1,225.19
+11.49
+.95
+3.55
+5.06
2,940.91
2,532.69
S&P 500
2,760.17
+22.41
+.82
+3.24
+4.46
2,053.00
1,769.25
S&P MidCap
1,878.65
+11.91
+.64
-1.15
-.84
30,560.54
26,293.62
Wilshire 5000
28,448.87
+214.59
+.76
+2.36
+3.65
1,742.09
1,436.43
Russell 2000
1,533.27
+7.88
+.52
-.15
-.24
Mutual Funds
Name
Total Assets
Obj ($Mlns) NAV
Total Return/Rank
4-wk 12-mo 5-year
Pet
Load
Min Init
Invt
Vanguard 500ldxAdmrl
LB 247,729
255.78
+2.0
+6.2/A
+11.1/A
NL
3,000
Vanguard TtlSMIdxAdmrl
LB 199,057
68.85
+2.1
+5.6/B
+10.6/A
NL
3,000
Vanguard TtlSMIdxinv
LB 127,316
68.82
+2.1
+5.5/B
+10.5/B
NL
3,000
Vanguard TtlnSIdxInv
FB 126,316
16.11
+1.3
-8.3/B
+2.1/B
NL
0
Vanguard TtlSMIdxIns
LB 119,661
68.86
+2.1
+5.6/B
+10.6/A
NL 5
000,000
Vanguard Insldxlns
LB 116,372
252.35
+2.0
+6.2/A
+11.1/A
NL 5
000,000
Vanguard InsidxInsPlus
LB 101,648
252.37
+2.0
+6.2/A
+11.1/A
NL100,000,000
Vanguard TtlnSIdxinsPlus
FB 94,240
107.77
+1.2
-8.2/B
+2.2/B
NL100,000,000
Fidelity Contrafund
LG 91,385
12.81
+0.7
+6.5/D
+11.7/B
NL
0
Vanguard TtBMIdxAdmrl
Cl 85,528
10.29
+0.5
-1.4/B
+2.0/C
NL
3,000
Fidelity 500ldxlnsPrm
LB 84,712
96.79
+2.0
+6.3/A
+11.1/A
NL
0
Vanguard WlngtnAdmrl
MA 84,654
72.29
+2.0
+2.9/A
+7.7/A
NL
50,000
Cl -Intermediate-Term Bond, FB -Foreign Large Blend, IH -World Allocation, LB -Large Blend, LG -Large Growth,
LV -Large Value, MA -Moderate Allocation, WS -World Stock, Total Return: Chng in NAV with dividends reinvested.
Rank: How fund performed vs. others with same objective: A is in top 20%, E in bottom 20%. Min Init Invt: Minimum
$ needed to invest in fund. Source: Morningstar.
