PepsiCo Inc, the world's second-largest soft-drink maker, will fire 750 workers, close a Frito-Lay snacks plant in Kentucky and combine North American juice businesses into one unit to lower costs.

The firings will reduce earnings by 6 US cents a share in the fourth quarter, PepsiCo, which has about 142,000 workers, said in a statement. The Purchase, a New York-based company, will manage its Tropicana and Dole juices and juice-drinks brands as part of a new group, with a Chicago headquarters.

The closing of the 330-worker plant will reduce manufacturing expenses, part of Chief Executive Steven Reinemund's plan to free up money for advertising healthier juices and snacks and selling new products such as Lays potato chips in canisters. Reinemund is trying to increase annual sales, which have risen 3.7 per cent for the past five years.

"The name of the game is lean and mean," said Marvin Roffman, president of Roffman Miller Associates, which manages about US$200 million including about 60,000 PepsiCo shares. "Restructuring is never ending."

Florida cuts

PepsiCo, which also makes Pepsi-Cola and Mountain Dew soda, delayed reviewing whether to boost its dividend until next year, disappointing some investors. Analysts including Goldman Sachs Group Inc's Marc Cohen had said PepsiCo might raise its payout as much as 40 per cent.

Shares of PepsiCo fell 57 US cents to US$48.14 on New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares increased 15 per cent this year.

"The stock is trading off due to the absence of a dividend increase," said Daniel Peris of Federated Investors Inc, which holds 1 million PepsiCo shares among US$201 billion in assets under management.

About 275 jobs will be trimmed at the North American beverage-and-food division, which includes only Quaker foods, mostly at the Tropicana juice unit in Bradenton, Florida. Jim Dwyer, who heads Tropicana, will leave the company, PepsiCo said.

The Frito-Lay plant, located in Louisville, will close in the first quarter, with production moving to newer factories in Tennessee and Arkansas. Most of the remaining job cuts will be overseas, the company said.

Forecasts

PepsiCo combined its North American beverage operations and Quaker products in June 2002 after the US$14.5 billion acquisition of Quaker Oats Co, maker of the top-selling Gatorade sports drinks.

The division, which included six business groups, will have five after the merger of the two juice groups. The division will continue to be led by Gary Rodkin.

A tax settlement with the Internal Revenue Service will add as much as 8 US cents a share to earnings this quarter. The company also will start to treat stock options as an expense, which will reduce annual earnings by 20 US cents a share. More compensation will be shifted to stock, PepsiCo said.

Including some costs and gains, earnings will be US$2 to US$2.01 a share this year, the company said. PepsiCo said it expects per-share profit to rise by 12 per cent to 14 per cent next year.

PepsiCo's board will review the company's dividend between March and May next year, Reinemund said at the analyst meeting in New York City. The beverage company, which had US$2.25 billion in cash at the end of the third quarter, has raised its dividend an average of 4 per cent a year for the past five years.

Reinemund said the company was not hoarding cash as part of a plan to make a large acquisition.

"We have no merger target we are holding our fire for," he told investors.

Competitor Coca-Cola Co, the world's largest soft-drink maker, in October raised its plan for job cuts to 2,800 from 1,900 as part of a similar cost-cutting plan.

Through November, US companies have announced 1.14 million in job cuts, 17 per cent fewer than the same period of 2002, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an international outplacement firm.

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