Prepared Foods October 4, 2004 enewsletter

PepsiCo Inc. of Purchase, N.Y., said it plans to close four Frito-Lay plants and cut some jobs.

The soft-drink giant also said its third-quarter net income surged 35%, helped by tax benefits, although volume of carbonated soft drinks and Quaker snacks fell.

The company said the plants to be closed are in Allen Park, Mich.; Council Bluffs, Iowa; Beaverton, Ore.; and Visalia, Calif. That leaves 39 plants in the U.S. and Canada, and production will increase at 24 of the locations.

PepsiCo said about 250 of the 780 jobs to be lost will be added to other Frito-Lay sites and Frito-Lay's headcount in the U.S. will remain at about 45,000.

The company expects to complete the closings by the end of the year.

PepsiCo will take a pretax charge of about $160 million, most of it in the fiscal fourth quarter, to implement the streamlining.