Decades of local Pepsi may come to an end

By Peter Stevenson

PEPSI IS looking into closing down its bottling and distribution plant in Cyprus after more than 50 years of operation, possibly importing the famous soft drinks from Greece, due to a fall in sales.

Some 95 people are due to lose their jobs if the factory which produces Pepsi, 7Up and IVI closes down with a total of around 190 people becoming jobless island-wide according to daily Phileleftheros.

The company announced their decision to trade unions SEK and PEO on Thursday.

Pepsi has been distributed in Cyprus since 1959 when Louca & Christodoulou Limited bought the rights from PepsiCo Inc. Less than ten years later in 1967, the company came to another agreement with PepsiCo, this time to produce and bottle the famous drink here on the island. In 1990 the company bought Southfields Industries Ltd which had the exclusive rights to produce and bottle 7Up in Cyprus and later producing and distributing IVI fizzy orange and lemonade. Further to that, the company now imports and distributes IVI mineral water and in 1996 came to an agreement with Unilever to produce and distribute Lipton Ice Tea on the island.

In 2000, the company was bought outright by A&P Beverages Ltd and was later renamed as A&P Enterprises Ltd.

The company also distributes McCain products in the Cyprus market.

The trade unions had asked the company to delay any lay-offs until 2014 the daily said.

According to Phileleftheros, Pepsi has not laid any personnel off since the beginning of the financial crisis on the island. They said that trade unions and employees had agreed with the company to reduce the amount of working days per week to four during winter and five during summer to help cut costs. This was under the condition that the company would not make any employees jobless in 2013.

Phileleftheros also said that the company had announced their compensation packages and for every year an employee had worked they would receive one week’s wages. Trade unions complained that previous compensation packages included three week’s wages for every year of employment.

A&P’s general manager Socrates Michaelides was unwilling to confirm or deny Phileleftheros’ reports.

 

 

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.