Nestlé will cut 16,000 jobs worldwide over the next two years — about 6% of its global workforce — as part of a major restructuring plan to boost growth and cut costs. The layoffs will include 12,000 office roles and 4,000 manufacturing and supply chain positions.
“The world is changing and Nestlé needs to change faster,” said new CEO Philipp Navratil, who took over last month after the dismissal of Laurent Freixe. The maker of KitKat, Nescafé, and Purina aims to save 3 billion Swiss francs (£2.8 billion) by 2027, up from a previous target of 2.5 billion.
Nestlé employs about 4,200 people in the UK but has not said where the cuts will fall. The company plans to boost efficiency through automation and tighter resource management.
The announcement came as Nestlé reported a 1.9% drop in reported sales to 65.9 billion francs for the first nine months of the year, mainly due to currency effects, though organic growth rose 3.3%.
Analyst Chris Beckett said Navratil’s bold cost-cutting move shows “it won’t be business as usual” as the company works to restore its former momentum.
