GLAD Australia bows to pressure to change back ClingWrap cutter; Frank Costa eyes off ASX float: Midday Roundup

GLAD Australia has retreated from its decision to change the position of the cutter bar on its ClingWrap Box, after unhappy customers flocked to talkback radio and social media to vent their frustration over the change.

GLAD Australia marketing director Phil James told News Limited this morning the cutter bar will be moved back to its original position in the coming months.

“We have heard the message loud and clear,” James said. “We are working through this with urgency and our objective is to get the product back as soon as humanly possible.”

“The explosion of conversation about the new cutter bar has been unprecedented. We simply could not ignore the magnitude of complaints.”

A spokesperson for GLAD Australia previously told SmartCompany the company had made a number of changes to the ClingWrap range, including moving the cutter bar from the side to the top of the box, in response to customer feedback.

“Before making these changes, GLAD completed rigorous and extensive in-home research in Australia,” the spokesperson said.

“The results were overwhelmingly positive favouring the changes including the movement of the cutter bar to the lid, with the safety aspect of this front of mind. In fact, more than 60% of those Australians, who participated in the research, preferred the improved product overall.”

Frank Costa eyes off ASX float

Australia’s largest fruit and vegetable grower and distributor is set to float on the Australian Stock Exchange in the first half of this year.

Fairfax reports the Costa Group, led by former Geelong Football Club president Frank Costa, has appointed Goldman Sachs and UBS to manage an initial public offering, with an investor roadshow kicking off in Asia this week.

The Costa Group was established by Frank Costa’s great uncle in 1888 and employs more than 7000 people during fruit-picking season. The company will seek to raise between $300-$600 million via the float, giving it an enterprise value of between $800 million and $1 billion.

Fairfax reports the final size, valuation and capital structure of the deal is still under consideration and will be depend on the holding retained by the current shareholders. The Costa family sold 50% of the business to US private equity firm Paine & Partners in 2012.

Aussie shares up

Local shares are up this morning but Australian investors largely awaiting global data.

“Like a tedious play, market action today is on hold as markets are left ‘waiting for Godot’,” said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets.

“The potential stimulus package to be announced at the conclusion of tonight’s ECB meeting represents a sea change for global markets, and dominates all other influences today.”

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was up 37.3 points to 5430.7 points at 12:00PM AEDT. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones closed up 0.22%, rising 39.05 points to 17,554.3 points.