Danone SA is to cut as many as 2,000 jobs, including one in four positions at its global headquarters, as the world’s largest yogurt maker attempts to revive profitability amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Danone yesterday said it is considering moving global headquarter sites for its various business lines closer to the base of its French operations in Paris.
Annual cost savings should reach 1 billion euros (US$1.2 billion) by 2023, also fueled by more efficient purchasing.
Photo: Reuters
Chief executive officer Emmanuel Faber is shifting the organization to focus on geographical zones rather than product categories to become more agile amid the pandemic. Competitors like Nestle SA have long followed a regional strategy.
The job cuts represent about 2 percent of Danone’s total staff.
“This year has shown our businesses could be hurt significantly in their competitiveness by external shocks in countries where we operate,” Faber said on a call with reporters. “In this very volatile world for the next several years, we need to create a safety margin.”
Total one-time costs related to the changes would be about 1.4 billion euros for the 2021-to-2023 period. Danone has global headquarter sites across the world in locations such as Amsterdam and Singapore.
About 400 to 500 jobs would be cut in France, a spokesman said.
Danone also said its adjusted operating margin should exceed 15 percent in 2022 and reach mid-to-high teen levels later, which would be a record level.
Danone shares have slumped 29 percent this year.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) forecast that its wafer shipments this quarter would grow up to 7 percent sequentially and the factory utilization rate would rise to 75 percent, indicating that customers did not alter their ordering behavior due to the US President Donald Trump’s capricious US tariff policies. However, the uncertainty about US tariffs has weighed on the chipmaker’s business visibility for the second half of this year, UMC chief financial officer Liu Chi-tung (劉啟東) said at an online earnings conference yesterday. “Although the escalating trade tensions and global tariff policies have increased uncertainty in the semiconductor industry, we have not
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS