Kraft Heinz To Close 7 Plants In North America, Lay Off 2,600

(RTTNews) - Food giant Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) announced it will close seven factories and lay off 2,600 employees in North America.

The factories that will be closed are in Fullerton, California; San Leandro, California; Federalsburg, Maryland; St. Marys, Ontario, Canada; Campbell, New York; Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania; and Madison, Wisconsin.

The company said it will shift the production in these locations to other factories in North America over the next 12-24 months. Kraft Heinz also plans to move its Oscar Mayer processed meats business to Chicago from Madison.

The latest set of job cuts comes just less than three months after the company was created through the merger of packaged foods maker Kraft Foods and ketchup maker H.J. Heinz, a deal that was engineered by Heinz owners 3G Capital Partners and Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s Warren Buffett.

In August, following the merger, Kraft Heinz had announced job cuts of about 2,500 employees to reduce costs as it struggles to boost sales in times of increased competition and consumers seeking fresher foods with minimal ingredients.

Restructuring and job cuts were expected at Kraft Heinz as the company seek to simplify its operations and lower its costs at the same time boost its sales. The company has laid off about 5,100 employees, or over 10 percent of the company's global workforce, since the merger closed in July.

For Kraft, which has been facing sales pressures, the Heinz merger is expected to act as a bulwark, with the combined company expected to generate annual sales of about $28 billion, driven by an array of billion dollar brands. The merger created the third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth largest internationally.

KHC closed Wednesday's trading at $75.82, down $0.61 or 0.80%, on the NYSE.