Cadbury Schweppes announces split

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Manufacturing News, Source : TheManufacturer.com
Published : 15 Mar 2007 15:53
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Cadbury Schweppes announced today that it intends to separate its confectionery and beverages businesses.

A statement said the company’s directors were evaluating the options for separation “to maximise shareowner value”.

CEO Todd Stitzer, who will move over to the confectionery side of the business following the split, said separating the two businesses would enable two management teams to focus on generating further revenue growth, increasing margin, and enhancing returns for their respective shareowners.

He denied that last year’s product recall because of a salmonella scare, or recent takeover speculation had affected the decision.

“Following our preliminary results announcement on 20 February, and in line with our usual practice, we met with most of our major shareowners representing around 40 per cent of our shares. These shareowners were positive about our transformation of the company, supportive of our plans for enhanced growth and returns and interested in our views on separation,” he said.

Cadbury Schweppes is the largest confectionery business in the world with a 10 per cent global market share. The company said it would unveil further details of the proposal at the time of its scheduled trading update on 19 June.