The British-Dutch food group Unilever announced on Friday that it will slash 8,000 jobs and close more than 30 factories as it absorbs Bestfoods, the US rival it bought for $24.3 billion last year. Most of the job losses will be in the US and Europe.
A Unilever spokesman said the review of the Bestfoods' integration will be complete in the third quarter of 2001 and then the jobs will be cut over the following three years. There were no clear details on where the cuts will fall.
Unilever employ 1,200 in Ireland. There are no plans for any factory closures or job losses here, OnBusiness has learned. The company operates the Lyons Tea, HB and Bestfood plants in Dublin and the Liptons softdrinks factory in Cork.
The news of the latest job cuts come in addition to 25,000 job losses announced last year as part of the company's growth strategy to focus on just 400 brands in order to boost sales and profit margins. The 'Path to Growth' strategy is a five year plan.
The job losses come after Unilever announced that its pre-tax profits in the first quarter had fallen by 38% from the figure for the same period last year, to 628 million euros. But net profits before exceptional items fell by 4% to 702 million euros, which was higher than expected by analysts who had forecast a figure of 590-610 million euros.
Sales rose by 20% to 12.74 billion euros, boosted by acquisitions. Operating profits rose by 34% to 1.58 billion euros from 1.17 billion euros.
Company presidents Niall Fitzgerald and Antony Burgmans said the company was achieving growth by concentrating on its main brands, increasing margins and strengthening its portfolio of interests. All of these factors were showing in the first-quarter results which amounted to a healthy start to the year.
