By James Atkinson

Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) has announced the loss of up to 260 jobs in a restructure that aims to deliver $100 million in back office savings.

Group managing director Alison Watkins today said the company had progressed with implementation of the initiatives identified as part of its strategic review.

“In August we announced that we are targeting over $100 million in savings in Australia from procurement, reduced support costs and improved productivity from the significant investment made in the supply chain and in IT investment over the past five years,” she said.

“Since then we have finalised plans to restructure our back office support costs with a range of process improvement and automation initiatives.” 

“The restructure will lead to the reduction up to 260 non-frontline positions, with the majority taking effect in 2015. This latest restructure, together with cost initiatives already in train, gives us a high level of confidence we will achieve our savings targets,” the managing director said.

Watkins said solid progress had also been made in the development and implementation of a range of growth initiatives to strengthen CCA’s brand portfolio. 

“The recent launch of the 250ml cans, supported by the #colouryoursummer campaign, is tracking above expectations in terms of ranging, transactions and most importantly, recruitment of the next generation of Coca-Cola consumers.” 

“We have a great line up of new product launches and marketing initiatives including the launch of Coke Life in the first half of 2015.”

Watkins said trading conditions in Australia continue to be challenging, but CCA still expects second half group EBIT to exceed that of the $316.7 million booked in the first half.

The company also announced a proposed US$500 million equity injection from The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) to support capital investment in the Indonesian market for the next three to four years. 

An Extraordinary General Meeting will be called for on February 17 next year for CCA shareholders to vote on the proposed equity injection from TCCC.

The Shout Team

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