Plant-based milk alternative brand Oatly has reported financial results “below expectations” as it looks to lower its staff numbers and cut costs across the business.
In looking to simplify its organisational structure, the company has said it is executing an overhead and headcount reduction which will impact up to 25% of the costs related to its group corporate functions.
While it has not revealed the number of redundancies its set to make, this is expected to create annual savings of up to £21.3 million per year.
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However, while Oatly saw a 7% year on year increase in its revenues for the third quarter, this did not meet expectations at £155.9m.
Its CEO Toni Petersson said this was driven by “Covid-19 restrictions in Asia, production challenges in the Americas, and continued foreign exchange headwinds.”
As a result, the company has downgraded its full-year outlook and now expects revenues of around £580m to £600m, down from its initial forecast of approximately £740m to £780m in April.
Despite this, Petersson said its continues “to see strong velocities, year-over-year sales volume growth, and minimal price elasticity globally,” which he said the company believes “demonstrates the power and resilience of the brand.”
Within its growth strategy, he added that the company has “taken decisive and strategic actions” to improve its operational efficiencies “in a volatile macroeconomic environment with an even more focused allocation of resources and capital.”
“These initial actions will simplify our organisational structures and the execution of our supply chain network expansion, and we expect more profitable growth going forward with a more asset-light strategy.”
