USA: Molson Coors plans to cut up to 390 jobs, outsource duties to Hewlett-Packard

Molson Coors Brewing Co. plans to eliminate up to 390 jobs in Canada, the United States and other parts of the world and outsource their duties to Hewlett-Packard Co, Canadian Press reported March 13.

The Canadian-American beer maker says the cuts will be divided about evenly among the company's three operating divisions: Coors Brewing Co. in Golden, Colo., Coors Brewers Ltd. in England and Molson Inc. in Toronto.

The cuts will be in human resources, information technology and finance.

Molson Coors spokeswoman Kabira Hatland said Wednesday the cuts are part of an effort to save US$250 million over three years. She says about a third of the savings is expected from the cuts and the rest from efficiency improvements.

About 40 Molson Coors workers are expected to transfer to HP, one of the world's biggest computer services companies, and up to 350 others will be laid off.

Molson Coors says functions to be taken over by HP will be done in Canada, Costa Rica, India, Puerto Rico and Poland.

14 March, 2008