E-Malt.com News article: 1248

The Canada’s brewer, Molson, announced that it would close one of its ten Brazilian breweries based in Ribeirao Preto. The brewery is part of Molson's Kaiser unit, which it acquired last year. “The closure will result in 140 job losses and generate annual savings of 15m Brazilian reals (US$5.3m),” the company said.

The move is part of its cost cutting programme and will result in a charge of C$42m (US$32m). Molson's ongoing cost savings programme is designed to improve the profitability of the Brazilian operations over a three-year period and aims to save the company 200 million reals.

In a statement Molson said: "Built over 75 years ago, the current Ribeirao Preto brewing facility is one of Kaiser's oldest breweries in Brazil, and is one of the most inefficient." No more closures are planned in the short term, but Molson said it would continue to scrutinise where further savings can be made.


27 June, 2003