Heineken plans to cut 8,000 jobs as Covid-19 pandemic curbs sales

Heineken NV plans to cut 8,000 jobs as the beermaker’s business with bars and restaurants suffers from pandemic-related lockdowns.

 

The staff reductions, which amount to almost a 10th of the workforce, are part of a target for ^2 billion ($2.4 billion) in gross savings through 2023, Heineken said Wednesday. About a fifth of jobs at the brewer’s headquarters are set to be eliminated in the first quarter of this year.

 

“On the productivity side, we need a bit more of an intervention, and that shouldn’t stop in 2023,” Chief Executive Officer Dolf van den Brink said by phone.

 

The world’s second-largest brewer after Anheuser-Busch InBev NV outlined additional strategic initiatives under its turnaround program launched last year, including targeting an operating margin of 17 per cent by 2023.

 

That would bring the measure of profitability into line with levels achieved before the pandemic.