Faux-meat maker Beyond Meat Inc has slashed its annual revenue forecast due to rising inflation, and said it was cutting about 200 jobs, or 19% of its total workforce.
President and CEO Ethan Brown commented, "Beyond Meat is implementing measures to drive more sustainable growth, emphasising the achievement of cash flow positive operations within the second half of 2023.
"While we believe the current headwinds facing our business and category —including record inflation—are transient, our mission, brand, and long-term opportunity endure. To manage through the current environment and realise the opportunity ahead, we are significantly reducing expenses and sharpening our focus on a set of key growth priorities."
Outlook
Beyond Meat said the weak forecast was due to increased competition and soaring inflation, which is pushing consumers to trade down into cheaper forms of protein, including animal meat.
The company expects full-year revenue to be in the range of about $400 million (€410.4 million) to $425 million (€436 million) compared with previous expectations of between $470 million (€482.2 million) to $520 million (€533.5 million).
Shares of the company were down nearly 7% in premarket trading as Beyond Meat said it would incur a one-time cash charge of about $4 million (€4.1 million) related to the job cuts in the fourth quarter.
Brown added, "We believe our decision to reduce personnel and expenses throughout the company, including our leadership group, reflects an appropriate right-sizing of our organisation given current economic conditions. We remain confident in our ability to deliver on the long-term growth and impact expected from our global brand."
News by Reuters, additional reporting by ESM – your source for the latest A-Brands news. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
