Pepsi’s Somers unit dodges bullet
700 will go, but from elsewhere
BY JOHN GOLDEN

The Pepsi Bottling Group’s plan to cut up to 700 jobs this year in realigning its international business operations will not affect employees at its Somers headquarters, a company spokeswoman said.

The organizational shake-up is expected to save about $30 million a year, said company officials in Putnam County.

About 150 management positions will be eliminated at Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) facilities in Pleasanton, Calif., and Norwood, Mass., along with up to 550 hourly-wage jobs outside of the U.S. and Canada, said spokeswoman Mary Winn Settino. The number of business units in the U.S. and Canada will be reduced from eight to six.

“We’ve got 1,200 employees in Somers and there’s no impact to them,” Settino said.

PBG will record a pretax charge of approximately $30 million to $40 million in the second half of 2007, or 9 cents to 12 cents per share, for severance and other employee-related costs from the restructuring. Company officials said they expect after-tax cash expenditures to be approximately $20 million to $25 million.

PBG is also evaluating the returns on its full-service vending equipment, which could result in an additional noncash charge in the second half of this year to retire some equipment, company officials said

The company continues to forecast 2007 adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2.02 to $2.07. Operating free cash flow guidance for the year is also unchanged at $540 to $550 million.

The Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. is the world’s largest manufacturer, seller and distributor of Pepsi-Cola beverages with more than 70,000 employees and nearly $13 billion in sales. It has operations in the U.S., Canada, Greece, Mexico, Russia, Spain and Turkey.

 

 

 

 

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