Historic Italian chocolate manufacturer Pernigotti is to cease production at its main production facility, ending a tradition that goes back to 1860.
The brand itself is likely to remain, however, chocolate production will be moved abroad, reports La Stampa, adding that this will lead to job losses at the company HQ in Novi Ligure, where 200 people are currently employed.
The decision to close down the factory was announced by the owner, Turkish company Toksöz, confirming fears by local unions that some production had already been transferred to Turkey, and that there has also been a decrease in ice-cream production.
Union representatives had expected a recovery plan after the company reported accumulated losses of €13 million over the last five years. In the same period, turnover dropped from €75 million to €50 million.
Meanwhile, the Ansa news platform reported that Pernigotti plans 'to externalise its productive activities solely in Italy' and is looking for 'industrial partners, to whom to entrust the production, in accordance with the aim of trying to relocate the maximum number of staff involved with firms operating in the same sector, or third parties.'
It added that the company is already talking to some major Italian companies in the confectionery sector.
The company was owned by the Pernigotti family for five generations until 1995, when it was sold to liquor company Averna, and subsequently in 2013, to Istanbul-based conglomerate Toksöz.
Pernigotti’s most famous brands include Gianduiotto, the production of which began in 1927, and Cremino, Pepitas and Nocciolato.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
