Brenntag to cut 1.3k jobs in major reorganisation plan

Essen, Germany – Brenntag AG is cutting more than a 1,000 jobs and closing down 100 sites across all its regions, as part of a comprehensive restructuring programme to reduce costs.

Starting in January 2021, the German distributor will have two global divisions – Brenntag Essentials and Brenntag Specialities, with “strong focus” on changing customer and supplier needs, it announced 27 Oct. 

As part of “Project Brenntag”, over the next two years, the distributor expects to cut 1,300 jobs out of its global workforce of 17,500, with 200 positions impacted in Germany.

In addition, to become “leaner and more efficient”, Brenntag said it is closing about 100 sites across the globe, half of which are third-party logistics sites.

In the meantime, the Essen-based group said it would make a ‘significant’ investment in existing and new sites to create regional hubs, and "close white spots in the network."

“The optimisation envisions closing sites to consolidate the site network in geographies and improve the utilisation of existing sites,” the group said.

The progarmme is expected to deliver an additional €220 million per year in earnings, starting 2023 and will incur a cost of €370 million, Brenntag said.

“With our transformation program Project Brenntag, we take decisive action to create the strong basis for sustainable organic earnings growth in the coming years,” said Christian Kohlpaintner, CEO Brenntag Group.

In line with the operating model, Project Brenntag also entails new roles, including a new leadership structure.

Brenntag did not elaborate on the planned changes in the management structure, but said it would “invest significantly” in training employees to bring in their strengths and expertise in the best possible way.