Long negotiations between management and the works council were concluded in July with the development of a social plan. Of the 112 personnel in Verden, 74 will be terminated. No transfers to other plants are planned, but the branch's headquarters will remain in Verden.
Lantmännen's main office in Denmark decided in January to close the plant in view of the intense price pressure on the chilled and frozen filled baguettes that the Verden plant made. Production of them will continue at the company's modernly equipped plant at Suhl, Germany.
"We're very sorry to have to shut down production in Verden," said Lantmännen Germany's director, Peder Christensen. "But the goal of the restructuring is to strengthen our marketing position in Germany, and of course to secure the 170 remaining jobs at our other German plants."
Lantmännen Unibake, headquartered in Horsens, Denmark, employs 3,900 persons at bakeries in 11 countries.