Sam Howard speaks to Willie Wood, senior sustainable horticulture manager at CFL to find out how partnerships with producers and growers worldwide are impacting the products found on UK supermarket shelves.

Part of the AG Thames group of companies, Chingford Fruit Limited (CFL) was founded in 1966. Over the last forty four years AG Thames has continued to grow through the acquisition of companies within key areas of its business. The group now employs 480 people with offices in South Africa, Italy, Spain, New Zealand and Chile.

Engineering and project management provider AMEC has been awarded a £150 million contract to deliver engineering and project management services for the Clair Ridge project, west of Shetland.

Clair Ridge is the second phase of the giant Clair oil field. The contract was awarded to AMEC by BP and its Clair partners Shell, ConocoPhillips and Chevron.

Despite historic levels of unemployment, American manufacturing companies are struggling to fill as many as 600,000 skilled positions, according to a new survey from Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute.

The survey Boiling Point? The skills gap in US manufacturing, polled a nationally representative sample of 1,123 executives at manufacturing companies recently and revealed that 5 percent of current manufacturing jobs are unfilled due to a lack of qualified candidates.

Dutch engineering consultancy Arcadis has announced it is to acquire UK-based consultancy EC Harris.

Through the merger, Amsterdam-based Arcadis will grow to almost 19,000 employees and €2.3 billion in revenues. Combined, the two companies will obtain a top five global position in strategic advisory and project delivery services for built assets, Arcadis said.

There are three broad imperatives that organizations are striving to implement in order to meet the changing needs of the business and enable global growth.
These are:
Creating global leverage
Making decisions with better/broader information
Enabling agile execution.

Deeply held misconceptions about globalization, information and agility are holding organizations back from making necessary adaptations. In contrast, our empirical data illustrates the true state of business services as they exist at thousands of companies today.

International Paper today announced the completion of its acquisition of a 75 percent stake in Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills (APPM) of India.

International Paper purchased 53.5 percent of the APPM shares from Mr LN Bangur and related family members and affiliates for approximately US$226 million in cash, plus $57 million for a covenant not to compete.

It has also acquired an additional 21.5 percent of APPM shares in a public tender offer completed on October 8, 2011, for approximately US$105 million in cash.

Energy giant BP has announced plans to invest almost £10 billion in developing four new North Sea oil and gas projects over the next five years.

The company said that the investment, which will be made with its partners, will help to maintain BP’s production from the North Sea “for decades to come”.

The UK government yesterday granted BP and its partners—Shell, ConocoPhillips and Chevron—approval to proceed with the £4.5 billion Clair Ridge project, the second phase of development of the Clair field complex, west of the Shetland Islands.

Canadian gold producer Agnico-Eagle Mines and Grayd Resource Corporation announced jointly today that Agnico-Eagle has formally commenced its $275 million take-over bid to acquire Grayd.

Agnico-Eagle is a long established gold producer with operations in Canada, Finland and Mexico and exploration and development activities in Canada, Finland, Mexico and the United States.

As countries across the globe wake up to the potential of wind power, business is booming for organisations operating within the wind energy sector.

According to RenewableUK and the Sector Skills Council for the power sector, employment in the UK’s wind power industry has surged over 91 per cent since 2007.

Rolls-Royce has announced a partnership with Pratt & Whitney to develop next generation engines for mid-size aircraft, as well as a restructuring of the companies’ International Aero Engines collaboration.

The new partnership will see the two companies developing engines for mid-size aircraft (capable of carrying 120 to 230 passengers) that will replace the existing mid-size fleet. Both companies will hold an equal share in the joint venture.