Hy-vee, West Des Moines, Iowa, said last week it has sold its 42 convenience stores to a locally based convenience-store chain so it can concentrate on its core food and drug businesses. The stores were sold to Krause Gentle Corp. here, whose subsidiary, Kum & Go, operates 313 convenience stores in 12 Midwestern states. The 42 stores are operated under a variety of names, including Heartland Pantry, 4 Sons and Hardy Shops. Ron Pearson, Hy-Vee president, said the company wants to stay focused on its core business, "building larger supermarkets and full-service drug stores." Hy-Vee operates 179 supermarkets and 26 Drug Town drugstores.
from reinstating a terminated poison pill without shareholder approval. Observers said the ruling could open the way for investor activists to push resolutions on a variety of corporate governance issues that management may no longer be able to ignore.
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT last week was expected to publish draft legislation for its proposed Food Standards Agency, as well as a consultation document on how it will be funded. The government proposed the agency last January as well as a licensing system for every registered food premise in the U.K., including supermarkets and food manufacturers and distributors. These industries reacted angrily to the plan, claiming it would cost them up to $330 million (200 million pounds) a year and force them to raise prices.
AMERICA ONLINE, the Internet provider, is entering into a new advertising pact with consumer-products provider Procter & Gamble, according to a report published last week. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the published report said that P&G, which spent $3 million on on-line advertising last year, may be leading the way for more traditional companies to attract new business via the Internet with direct ads.
THE CALIFORNIA GROCERS ASSOCIATION, Sacramento, has established a scholarship in the name of Don C. Beaver, CGA's president from 1979 until his retirement in 1996. The first scholarship, totaling $2,000, will be awarded in the spring to a student who will be a college junior or senior in the 1999-2000 academic year with a major in disciplines related to the grocery industry. CGA also said it will induct Lou Amen, chairman of Super A Foods, Paramount, Calif., into its Educational Foundation Hall of Achievement in March. Amen, a former CGA chairman, is being honored "for his many years of commitment, dedication and leadership to the California food industry," CGA noted. The induction is scheduled for an awards dinner March 19 in Los Angeles.
