Dive Brief:
- It's more job cuts for General Mills, but this time it's overseas as the company closes plants in Berwick, United Kingdom, and East Tamaki, New Zealand, resulting in the loss of 285 jobs. The layoffs and plant closures are expected to be finished by the end of fiscal 2017.
- "General Mills, which in January launched its expense-reduction program, said in a regulatory filing Thursday that it recently broadened the scope of the program 'to identify opportunities to streamline our supply chain outside of North America,'" MarketWatch reported.
- The company announced in July that it expected the cost cuts to generate savings of $285 million to $310 million in its 2016 fiscal year.
Dive Insight:
This is the latest round of job cuts General Mills has announced in just the past few months. In June, the company said it would be cutting 675 to 725 jobs from its international business, and the next month, it announced another two plants would close, impacting more than 600 jobs. Last month, General Mills said it would cut 160 jobs from an Illinois plant following the company's sale of Green Giant to B&G Foods, who is moving Green Giant's frozen vegetable line to another plant.
General Mills's cost-cutting measures have paid off for the company so far, as it posted a 24% increase in profit in its latest earnings report, which included a profit margin increase to 36.9% from 33.7% the year before.