Scottish & Newcastle to axe UK sales jobs

Published on Saturday 10 January 2009 13:52

SCOTTISH & Newcastle, the brewer behind Foster's and Kronenbourg 1664, is expected to cut a number of jobs in a major restructuring of its UK sales team.

The brewer, which was bought by Heineken last January in a 3.6bn deal, employs about 500 staff in its on-trade team who sell into bars, clubs and restaurants.

A spokesman said that the changes were being carried out to ensure that the firm has the right structure in place to respond to the "changing dynamics of the UK marketplace in 2009 and beyond".

The news comes at a crippling time for the UK brewing industry. Beer margins in the UK market are at their lowest level for years, with some analysts speculating about the onset of a price war.

This month Britain's biggest high-street pub chain, JD Wetherspoon, announced it would cut the price of a pint of beer to levels not seen since 1989. It now sells a pint of Greene King IPA and a bottle of San Miguel premium lager for just 99p.

The British Beer & Pub Association, representing pub companies, claims pub closures are running at 36 a week. Next month S&N will increase its wholesale beer prices by 5.74% as a result of "unprecedented" hikes in production and material costs.

The spokesman for S&N said the new structure, if implemented, would result in fewer posts than was currently the case but that new jobs in the customer service area would be created.

He said: "We can confirm that we have carried out a review of S&N's on-trade business to ensure that we have the right structure in place to respond to the changing dynamics of the UK marketplace in 2009 and beyond.

"As a result of this review, a number of changes to S&N's on-trade structure have been proposed and briefed to our employees today and a consultation process will now begin.

"It is very much business as usual and these changes will not affect our customers in any way."