Restructuring at Unilever to shut down 100 plants

The Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever confirmed at its annual general meeting on May 9 that it would close a total of 100 sites as it continues along the path to growth, the Financial Times reports. Chief executive Niall Fitzgerald said that 43 site closures had already been approved and that 23 sites had been closed at the end of 2000. The restructuring programme is a result of last year's $20.3bn acquisition of Bestfoods, and will cause Unilever to concentrate on specific centres of production. 300 brands had already been targeted for delisting or disposal. The group wants to achieve savings of Euros 1.5bn by 2004 in order to deliver earnings per share growth of at least 10 per cent each year. Unilever's job losses are expected to hit workers from both Bestfoods and Unilever mainly in North America and Europe. The combined company would like to achieve Euros 395m of savings this year. Unilever has about 16,500 employees in the UK and more than 250,000 worldwide. Although it is not yet clear whether France will be affected, it might face the same opposition that greeted French restructuring attempts by Danone and Marks & Spencer. Last month, Unilever said that it had already cut 8,000 jobs as part of this plan, either through redundancies or business disposals and had also closed or sold 29 sites. It reported underlying net profits of Euros 702m for the first quarter of 2001, much better than previously expected. Source: Financial Times​