Cadbury Schweppes has unveiled plans to slash 5,500 jobs and 20 per cent of its factories over four years.
The maker of Dairy Milk chocolate, Trident sugar-free gum and Dr Pepper drinks said today it hoped to save £400 million sterling (€576 million) in costs annually by 2007. The costs being targeted do not include marketing expenses, it said.
Cadbury expects the overhaul to cost around £900 million (€1,297 million) in additional investment between 2004 and 2007, split equally between restructuring expenses and capital spending.
The firm, which has 133 factories and 55,000 employees globally, did not say which plants would be closed or where the jobs would go as part of the "Fuel for Growth" plan.
Chief Executive Todd Stitzer told reporters that the move would tie in with Cadbury's new organisation structure, put in place in February when it cut the number of its divisions to five from nine, to reduce costs and push its array of brands.
"(The) cost reduction programme will provide the funds to increase our investment in marketing and innovation to drive our top-line growth," he said in a statement.
The overhaul pleased investors, who pushed its shares up 2.2 per cent at 400 pence in mid-morning trade.