Chiquita Q1 losses rise as company lays off 300 workers in Latin America
Chiquita Brands International, which in January announced plans to close its Charlotte headquarters, said on Thursday it laid off 300 workers in Latin America and saw its losses more than double in the first quarter, months after finalizing an acquisition by two Brazilian companies.
The banana company saw a 5 percent drop in sales in the three months ended on March 31, to $725 million. That’s down from $761 million at the same time last year, according to a quarterly report. The firm’s net loss more than doubled to $64.6 million, compared with $24.6 million during the same quarter last year.
The company paid out up to $5 million in severance payments to employees who were let go in Latin America, and it incurred $48 million in legal and advisory fees in connection with a proposed merger with Irish produce company Fyffes – a deal company shareholders voted down last fall.
Attracted by $22 million worth of state and local incentives, Chiquita relocated its headquarters from Cincinnati to Charlotte in 2011. But after failing to reverse its own financial troubles, the company last year agreed to be acquired by Brazilian financial firm Safra Group and orange juice-maker Cutrale for $681 million, with plans to move its headquarters and more than 300 jobs from Charlotte.
The merger made Chiquita a private subsidiary. In the aftermath, about 40 employees had been laid off by February, and the company said it expected job cuts to continue into October.
Chiquita is located in the NASCAR Plaza office tower at Stonewall and South Caldwell streets, where its blue-and-yellow logo tops the building. The company said it expects to repay up to $3 million in relocation incentives and write off $10 million to $12 million in costs associated with terminating its lease with Parkway Properties, which owns the NASCAR building.
This story was originally published May 14, 2015 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Chiquita Q1 losses rise as company lays off 300 workers in Latin America."