Client Newswrap: thousands of jobs face axe at Glaxo and dairy staff receive ‘snow bonus’

Brands
Drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline is expected to announce thousands of job cuts this week, in the latest stage of a £1.7bn cost-cutting plan. The British-based company, which announces its annual results this week, has recently moved its focus towards fast-growing emerging markets, where its business has been expanding at almost 20% a year.

Britvic has reported sales growth of 11% in the run-up to Christmas, with total sales of more than £242.7m. The group, which owns brands such as Pepsi and 7UP, said that in the UK sales of its carbonated products had soared 21% in the 12 weeks to 20 December 2009, with its still-drink brands, such as Robinsons and J20, increasing 9.6%.

Bread maker Warburtons has unveiled a series of environmental targets for its supply chain in its first corporate responsibility agenda, including a pledge to cut its CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020 and to achieve zero bread and packaging waste from its 14 UK bakeries to landfill by 2015. The company also said it would donate 1% of pre-tax profits per year to charity. Meanwhile, more than 120 jobs at Warburtons’ Bolton arm are under threat after the firm announced a 25m upgrade to its bakeries. 121 employees of a 480-strong workforce entered a 90-day consultation period last week under plans to close two bread plants and update them with one, more modern, facility.

As Cadbury shareholders prepare to vote on Kraft‘s latest bid for the company tomorrow, unions representing thousands of workers at the Midlands-based chocolate maker have voiced fresh concern on the future of the firm’s employees. Unite called on Kraft to make its intentions clear after the company failed to release any information on how the deal would affect the workforces of both companies.

Nestlé has announced it will invest $390m (£244m) in coffee processing in Mexico over the next three years. Capacity at the food giant’s instant coffee factory in Toluca, near Mexico City, would increase 40% after the spend. The company has said it will invest $1bn in Mexico before 2012.

Unilever chief executive Paul Polman yesterday called for other big-business bosses to make sustainability and tackling climate change their top priority, not the demands of short-term shareholders. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the boss of the FMCG giant said he did not mind if Unilever’s shares were sold by hedge funds, who, he claimed, were worried about short-term profitability and would “sell their grandmother if they could make money”.

Retailers
Waitrose is the UK’s “favourite” supermarket, according to new research published today. The Which? supermarket report, which surveys more than 13,000 consumers, found that shoppers felt high-end grocery retailers such as Waitrose and M&S provided a better service that Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda and Morrisons, while perceived as better in terms of price, could not match.

Gases used in fridges and freezers in supermarkets are as much of an environmental threat as the plastic bags they give out to shoppers, new research has claimed. The ‘Chilling facts’ report, a study by the Environmental Investigation Agency, said chemicals released by fridges account for 30% of supermarkets’ CO2 emissions. The EIA’s Fionnuala Walravens said in the Guardian that the issue was little understood and “a hell of a lot bigger than plastic bags”.

Wiseman Dairies, which supplies milk to major retailers, has said it will pay its workers a one-off bonus of £100 in recognition of hard work after supermarkets were kept stocked during recent spells of bad weather and over the busy Christmas period. The bonus will cost the company £400,000. Wiseman said it achieved record sales during the extreme weather, up 10% in the week when the snow was at its worst.

Tesco has sparked controversy after implementing a ‘dress code’ at one of its Welsh stores. The branch in St Mellons, Cardiff caused outrage when it banned shoppers from wearing pyjamas and insisted they wear footwear when visiting the store.

Sainsbury’s has announced plans to introduce recycling of energy-saving lightbulbs and batteries to 200 stores, following a successful trial and new legislation requiring retailers to offer battery recycling.

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