Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
FrieslandCampina, a Netherlands-based dairy production company, announced that it will cut 1,000 jobs due to internal restructuring by the end of 2021. The job cuts will occur mainly at the company’s sites located in three European countries: Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The exact number of cut jobs per country is still unclear, but so far, the company has announced dismissal programmes in the Netherlands (at least 170 jobs cut) and Germany (195 jobs cut).
The company declared its intentions to 'cut as many jobs as possible through natural attrition and not filling vacancies', however it does not exclude the recourse to compulsory redundancies.
FrieslandCampina explained that the restructuring plan has become imperative with COVID-19, which has accelerated the company’s transformation strategy ‘Our Purpose, Our Plan’, first implemented in 2018. In addition to the pandemic, the dairy industry has experienced difficulties in export markets, such as Hong Kong, China and Nigeria. Furthermore, profit margins have tightened in its home markets in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
The company said that some of the savings from the restructuring are expected to be concentrated on growth areas, including new and more sustainable dairy and plant-based products.
Currently, FrieslandCampina, the world largest cooperative dairy company, employs almost 24,000 people in 36 countries.
Eurofound (2020), FrieslandCampina, Internal restructuring in European Union, factsheet number 102725, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/102725.
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