Cadbury to fire 5500 people
Cadbury Schweppes, Britain’s best-known confectionery company, plans to slash 5500 jobs and shutter one fifth of its 133 factories in a bid to cut costs by $677 million by 2007.
As a result of the new initiatives the company expects to boost underlying operating profit margins by 0.50 to 0.75 percentage points every year between 2004 and 2007.
Cadbury said the acquisition of the Adams chewing gum division from US pharmaceutical company Pfizer in March 2003 “transformed” its confectionery business.
“We are present in most of the world’s key confectionery markets and hold the number one or number two position in around half of the world’s 50 largest confectionery markets,” it said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.
“As a consequence of the number of acquisitions we have made in recent years, we have a complex organisational structure for a business of our size and a disproportionate cost base,” the statement added.
The restructuring will cost some 900 million pounds ($1.5 billion) over the period.
The cost reduction programme “will provide the funds to increase our investment in marketing and innovation to drive our top line growth,” Chief Executive Todd Stitzer said.
The group reiterated full year profit forecasts, saying it would be unchanged from the first half.