Cadbury to axe 7,500 jobs worldwide
Confectionery and drinks giant Cadbury Schweppes today announced plans to cut its global workforce by around 15% – equivalent to around 7,500 jobs.
Cadbury announced plans last October to lay off 450 of its 1,500 workers in Ireland in the next two to three years. A spokesperson for Cadbury Ireland said today's announcement brings no additional bad news for Irish workers.
The Dairy Milk maker also said it would reduce its number of confectionery sites by 15%.
The company employs an estimated 50,000 people in confectionery worldwide, including about 6,000 staff in the UK.
The restructuring comes amid plans by the company to split itself in two, with its US-based beverages operation set to be sold. Following the separation, the company will be renamed Cadbury, with annual revenues of around £5bn (€7.4bn).
The group did not give details of where it intended to close factories or cut jobs. However, it called the measures a “radical programme of cost reduction and efficiency”, which will help improve its profits margin in confectionery from 10.1% to mid-teens by 2011.
It said: “Our cost reduction initiatives will impact all parts of the group, in sales, general and administration costs and supply chain, in the regions and at the group centre.”
Cadbury’s last cost-cutting exercise four years ago, called Fuel For Growth, resulted in 30 factories being closed worldwide.
The group now has 35 confectionery sites across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, with another 59 bottling and manufacturing sites across the globe.
Today’s plans are greater than expected as reports at the weekend forecast that around 10% of the workforce was likely to be under threat.
Cadbury said it would focus its resources on its top 13 brands and the five brands which have the strongest potential in existing and new markets - Cadbury, Trident, Hall, Green & Black's and The Natural Confectionery Company.
It also increased its annual revenues growth target from between 3% and 5% to 4% to 6%. It said its hopes were underpinned by growth in its market of around 5% a year over the past five years.
Chief executive Todd Stitzer said: “Over the past three years, we have made great strides in improving our business performance.
“The plans announced today represent the next step in transforming our confectionery company from being the biggest global confectionery company to being the biggest and the best.”
