Решил.
добавить {{ product.manufacturer }} в шаблоне модуля latest.twig
в контроллере latest.php добавить след.
$product_info = $this->model_catalog_product->getProduct($result['product_id']);
$data['products'][] = array(
'product_id' => $result['product_id'],
'thumb' => $image,
'name' => $result['name'],
'description' => utf8_substr(trim(strip_tags(html_entity_decode($result['description'], ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8'))), 0, $this->config->get('theme_' . $this->config->get('config_theme') . '_product_description_length')) . '..',
'price' => $price,
'special' => $special,
'tax' => $tax,
'rating' => $rating,
'href' => $this->url->link('product/product', 'product_id=' . $result['product_id']),
'manufacturer'=> $product_info['manufacturer']
);