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Pandora Cuts Jobs, Sales Forecast for 2018
The bead and jewelry maker said it is laying off 397 workers, mostly at its manufacturing facilities in Thailand.
Copenhagen, Denmark—Pandora said Tuesday it will cut nearly 400 jobs as it looks to streamline manufacturing and shift more resources to digital and e-commerce operations.
A total of 397 of the company’s 27,000 employees, or less than 2 percent of the total workforce, will be laid off. The majority of the layoffs, 218, will be in Thailand, where its jewelry is manufactured.
Pandora said it is making the cuts to protect profitability and support the five-year strategy implemented last year. The cuts will save the company about DKK 150 million ($23.3 million).
The announcement came the day after the bead and jewelry maker reported flat second quarter sales and slashed its forecast for the year.
Pandora, which is grappling with slowing sales in key markets like the United States and China, said it now expects a revenue increase of 5-7 percent (in local currency) on the year, down from its previous prediction of 7-10 percent. It also warned that profit margin will be lower than previously forecast, 32 percent instead of 35 percent.
Also this week, the company announced the appointment of a new head for the Americas, Sid Keswani.
Keswani replaces Scott Burger, who resigned at the beginning of the year.
He joins Pandora from Fiesta Mart, a Texas-based grocery store chain. Prior to that, he spent 19 years as an executive at Target Corp. and was the senior vice president of operations for Susser Holdings, a convenience store chain.
As president of the Americas for Pandora, Keswani will oversee the bead and jewelry company’s operations in North America, the Caribbean and Latin America. The region has more than 2,300 points of sale, including more than 650 concept stores, nearly a third of which are now owned and operated by Pandora.
The region employs a total of 3,400.
Pandora said a key priority for Keswani will be to work with franchisees and Pandora-owned stores to ensure they are integrating their operations with the company’s online store, which opened in April 2015.
His appointment is effective Aug. 13.
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