Cadbury will be under the spotlight later this week when it
unveils its latest trading results.
For the Birmingham-based confectionary firm these results, which
are out on Wednesday, will be critical in its fight to remain
independent and to avoid a takeover from Kraft.
According to Professor David Bailey from Coventry University's
Business School, Kraft will wait for the figures to come out to
decide on what to do next
Professor Bailey said: "Kraft might not reveal its hand
straight away, but may well wait until after its own trading update
on November 3; that would give the US giant a few days to put in a
formal offer before the Takeover Panel's deadline of 9
November.
"Kraft may fail with its initial offer of 745p a share but may
well up the price if it really wants the Cadbury prize, and there
are rumours that it may well sell its Maxwell House coffee brand to
raise more cash for a better offer but even if this American giant
fails, other predators will circle".
According to Professor Bailey, most takeovers fail, even just in
terms of the benefits they offer shareholders, let alone the wider
social interests:
"I see little social and economic benefit for Birmingham, the
West Midlands or UK plc of swapping corporate control from Cadbury
HQ here in the UK to Kraft in the US" said Professor Bailey.
"As we saw with the Nestle / Rowntree takeover, the latter was
left as a hollowed out brand with activities shifted abroad. We've
seen enough of that lately in Birmingham."