Nestlé will eliminate 16,000 jobs worldwide — nearly 6% of its workforce — over the next two years as part of a major cost-cutting plan to boost sales and efficiency. The layoffs include 12,000 white-collar roles and 4,000 in manufacturing and supply chains.
“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. Navratil is accelerating cost-saving targets to 3 billion Swiss francs (£2.8bn) by 2027 and aims to foster a “performance-driven culture.”
The maker of KitKat and Nescafé employs about 4,200 people in the UK and said it will focus on automation and streamlining operations.
Nestlé’s reported sales fell 1.9% to 65.9 billion francs in the first nine months of the year, mainly due to currency impacts, though organic sales rose 3.3%. Growth was strongest in coffee and confectionery, aided by inflation-driven price rises.
Analyst Chris Beckett said Navratil’s swift action shows “it won’t be business as usual” at Nestlé, adding that the company remains “a work in progress.”
