Here are the business stories making the headlines across Scotland and the UK this morning.
Unilever agrees $60bn merger of food division with US spice maker
Unilever has agreed to merge its food arm with the US-based spice and seasoning maker McCormick in a $44.8billion deal that marks the second-largest food transaction in history.
The merger, which brings together Hellmann’s mayonnaise and French’s mustard into one portfolio, will create a food conglomerate with a combined enterprise value of almost $66billion and annual revenues of $20billion. Its scale follows only the 2015 merger of Heinz and Kraft Foods, which was valued `between $46billion and $49billion.
The deal marks the biggest move yet by Fernando Fernández since taking over as chief executive of Unilever in March last year and comes after he completed the spin-off of Unilever’s multibillion-euro ice cream business, home to Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum.
Marie Claire publisher loses a third of its value after warning of AI hit
The publisher behind Marie Claire and Country Life lost a third of its value after warning AI search tools were hitting reader numbers.
Shares in Future, which also owns The Week and price comparison site Go.Compare, crashed by 30% on Tuesday after it admitted a decline in traffic from Google had been “more pronounced than anticipated”.
Future said the change had led to a fall in readership, denting its advertising and e-commerce revenues and driving up the cost of ad spots across the industry.
Farmer unveils new shop and cafe plans just outside Aberdeen as ‘family business hit by industry challenges’
Plans for a new farm shop and cafe a stone’s throw away from Aberdeen are in the works.
Ian Thomson, of Middleton Farm near Potterton, has submitted the proposal which would “highlight the best of what Aberdeenshire has to offer”.
The new site would include a traditional farm shop, alongside a cafe with children’s play areas.