Nestlé to sell confectionery brands in New Zealand

Nestlé has announced it plans to sell its sugar confectionery brands in New Zealand and focus on its chocolate, baking and medicated lozenge brands instead.

Under the agreement, RJ’s will purchase the Mackintosh’s, Heards, Oddfellows, Black Knight and Fabulicious Red Licorice brands, which it intends to continue to manufacture in New Zealand. Nestlé will also sell the Life Savers brand to Darrell Lea in Australia.

The factory in Wiri, Auckland will continue to manufacture culinary products including Maggi soups and recipe mixes, but up to 55 of the 270 workers will be made redundant. Affected employees will be offered redundancy packages, and Nestlé Confectionery General Manager Martin Brown said they may have opportunities elsewhere, including at RJ’s.

“While the sale regretfully means job losses at our Wiri factory, we are working with RJ’s to identify opportunities for people leaving our workforce to join RJ’s factory in Levin,” he said. “As well, we have been contacted by a number of other local businesses to discuss job opportunities for our employees — an indicator of the calibre of our people.”

Brown praised the staff and said the decision was made after the company recognised its confectionery business in New Zealand was made up of smaller local brands.

Earlier this year, Nestlé also sold its US confectionery business to Ferrero for US$2.8 billion.

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