Bacardi sheds 10% of North American workforce

International spirits producer Bacardi has commenced a restructuring programme in North America that will cut more than 10% of its workforce in the market.

Bacardi is to cut about 10% of its workforce in North America in a bid to reduce costs

The Grey Goose vodka and Bombay Sapphire gin owner will lay-off “fewer” than 80 positions from its 600-strong workforce as part of a bid to reduce costs.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the majority of cuts will be made in its sales and field marketing teams, with lay-offs expected to take place throughout this week.

Additional cuts will be made to finance, IT and communciations departments.

Bacardi, a privately-held company, said in a statement:“Like any company with operations around the globe, and especially one with more than 200 brands and labels, we regularly review all aspects of our operations, facilities, processes and efficiencies.

“To greater meet the demands of an ever-changing global marketplace, we regularly adjust staffing – to expand or retract – and business structure to best support business needs.

“As business decisions are taken, we first communicate with our employees. It is business as usual at Bacardi in North America.”

The group has made a series of changes to its executive team in recent months as former IMG Worldwide head Mike Dolan was appointed CEO following Ed Shirley’s retirement.

Bacardi’s president of North American Robert Furniss-Roe resigned from his post in August last year, while the region’s CMO Juan Rovira stepped down in February 2015.

Just last month, the Bermuda-based company announced its acquisition of Angel’s Envy Bourbon – marking its first foray into the American whiskey sector. A few days later, its acquisition of a minority stake in independent Scotch whisky bottler Compass Box was revealed.

Bacardi is the latest drinks group to announce staffing cuts, following moves by Diageo and Pernod Ricard to make savings in the face of dramatic sales declines.

UK drinks group Diageo revealed it had made its biggest savings through reduced staffing costs while France’s Pernod Ricard said it would shed 900 jobs from its global workforce as part of cost-cutting scheme project Allegro.