Dean Foods Co., the Texas-based parent of Franklin’s Garelick Farms, said it would cut its earnings expectations and cut between 600 and 700 jobs in response to sharply rising dairy costs.
The company cut its net income guidance from between $1.52 and $1.58 per share to $1.25 per share.
Gregg Engles, chairman and CEO of the company, said in a release that earnings for all of 2007 have been well short of expectations and that the third quarter was “by far the most difficult operating environment in the history of the company.”
The increased commodity costs have been accompanied by softening sales, the company said.
Engles said voluntary layoffs would begin immediately, but involuntary layoffs would follow if necessary. He said the company expected to let go between 600 and 700 employees by the end of October. Garelick employs 1,300 in Central Massachusetts.
