Greek Coke bottler to cut 150 jobs in Poland
ATHENS, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The world's second largest Coke bottler, Coca-Cola Hellenic (CCH) (HLBr.AT) will cut 150 jobs in Poland from February as part of its efforts to cut costs.
The Greek bottler has said they looked for opportunities to further reduce costs in response to the current difficult economic environment, in a bid to boost 2009 profits.
"In response to the expected GDP growth slowdown in Poland in 2009, we are proactively managing our cost base to ensure we sustain our competitiveness in the market," CCH's investor relations director George Toulantas told Reuters. "It is about 4.5 percent of our Polish workforce, which represents about 3,000 employees".
He said all people affected, mainly in administrative posts, would be provided with additional severance pay, which could typically range between one and three months' salary, along with information on finding a job outside the group.
CCH sells Coke-branded products in 28 countries across Europe and in Nigeria, with more than half of its revenues coming from its developing and emerging markets.
In the first nine months last year, Poland, one of CCH's developing markets, achieved double-digit volume growth, contributing about 10 percent to the group's total sales volume of about 1.62 billion unit cases.
(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Rupert Winchester)
