Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
Bottles of Jim Beam bourbon sit on a shelf in a liquor store in Deerfield, Illinois, U.S., on Nov. 1, 2010. (Tim Boyle/Bloomberg)
Fortune Brands Inc. plans to pour money into marketing its liquor brands like Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark as it prepares to become a standalone spirits company.
A top executive also says it will keep an eye out for potential acquisitions. Get the full story »
Consumer goods maker Fortune Brands posted a sharply higher quarterly profit that topped Wall Street’s expectations as an improving economy helped spur sales of premium liquor and Titleist golf clubs.
But the conglomerate said sales of its Simonton windows, up at a double-digit rate, were fueled by the expiration of a consumer tax credit for the purchase of energy-efficient home products. As a result, it expects the overall window market to fall at a mid-single-digit rate this year. Get the full story »
An appellate court tossed out Gov. Pat Quinn’s signature $31 billion construction program, widespread plans for video poker and higher taxes on candy and booze, declaring Wednesday in a ruling that they were unconstitutional.
The justices ruled the problem with the law is that it violated the state’s basic constitutional tenet that legislation must address a single subject only. They wrote that wide-ranging issues in one of four bills passed in 2009 failed to have a “natural and logical connection.”
The decision knocked out all four laws that represented the backbone of the public works program Quinn put together with bipartisan support two years ago. It was the culmination of an effort with legislative leaders who had found working with former Gov. Rod Blagojevich futile. Get the full story »
U.S. consumers started drinking more higher-end spirits last year, leading the industry to see signs of a fragile recovery.
Liquor companies sold 190.7 million nine-liter cases in the United States in 2010, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States trade group. That was up 2 percent from 2009, when a recession crimped consumers’ drinking habits. Get the full story »
For 35 years, Bill Samuels Jr. oversaw Maker’s Mark bourbon as it matured from a regional novelty started by his parents to an international brand recognizable by its red wax seal.
Now he’s planning to step aside for the next generation of his family to lead the rural Kentucky distillery, known for its distinctive square bottles that are sealed with red wax. Samuels, 70, will retire as president of Maker’s Mark on April 15, when he’ll become chairman emeritus of the brand owned by Fortune Brands Inc., the company announced. Get the full story »
