Cadbury plc (LSE: CBRY, NYSE: CBY) is a British confectionery and beverage company with its headquarters in, Uxbridge,London, United Kingdom, and is the world's second largest confectionery manufacturer, after Mars/Wrigley. The firm was known as "Cadbury Schweppes plc" from 1969 until its demerging in May 2008, separating its global confectionery business from its US beverage unit, which has been renamed Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It is headquartered in Mayfair, City of Westminster, Greater London.
History
Early history
In 1824, John Cadbury began vending tea, coffee, and drinking chocolate at Bull Street in Birmingham, England in the UK which he produced himself. John Cadbury later moved into the production of a variety of Cocoas and Drinking Chocolates being manufactured from a factory in Bridge Street, supplying mainly to the wealthy due to the high cost of manufacture at this time. During this time a partnership was struck between John Cadbury and his brother Benjamin. At this time the company was known as 'Cadbury Brothers of Birmingham'.
The two brothers opened an office in London and in 1854 received the Royal Warrant as manufacturers of chocolate and cocoa to Queen Victoria. Around this time in the 1850s the industry received a much needed boost with the reduction in high import taxes on cocoa, this allowed chocolate to become more affordable to everyone.
Owing to the popularity of a new expanded product line, including the very popular Cadbury's Cocoa Essence, the companies success led to the decision in 1873 to cease the trading of tea. Around this time, master confectioner Frederic Kinchelman was appointed to share his recipe and production secrets with Cadbury's, this led to an assortment of various chocolate covered items.
In 1878, John Cadbury's sons Richard and George (who had taken over the company after John Cadbury's retirement in 1861), acquired the Bournbrook estate, comprising fourteen and a half acres of countryside five miles south on the outskirts of Birmingham. They renamed the Bournbrook estate to Bournville and opened the Bournville factory in 1879.
In 1893, George Cadbury bought 120 acres (0.5 km²) of land close to the works and planned, at his own expense, a model village which would 'alleviate the evils of modern more cramped living conditions'. By 1900 the estate included 313 cottages and houses set on 330 acres (1.3 km²) of land. As the Cadbury family were Quakers there were no Public houses in the estate; in fact, it was their Quaker beliefs that first led them to sell tea, coffee and cocoa as alternatives to alcohol.
1900 to 1950s
1915 saw the introduction of Cadbury's Milk Tray and throughout the war, more than 2,000 of Cadbury's male employees joined the Armed Forces. To support the war effort, Cadbury's provided clothing, books and chocolate to soldiers. After World War I, the Bournville factory was redeveloped and mass production began in earnest. In 1918, Cadbury's opened their first overseas factory in Hobart, Tasmania and in 1919 undertook a merger with J.S. Fry & Sons Limited, another chocolate manufacturer which saw the integration of well known brands such as Fry's Chocolate Cream and Fry's Turkish Delight.
During World War II, parts of the Bournville factory were turned over to war work, producing milling machines and pilot seats. Workers ploughed football fields in which to plant crops. As chocolate was regarded as an essential food it was placed under government supervision for the entire war. At the end of the war, normal production resumed and war time rationing of chocolate was finally ended in 1949. Cadbury's went from strength to strength with the introduction of new factories and an ever growing demand for produce.
Merger with Schweppes
Cadbury merged with drinks company Schweppes to form Cadbury Schweppes in 1969.
Cadbury Schweppes went on to acquire Sunkist, Canada Dry, Typhoo Tea and more. In the US, Schweppes Beverages was created and the manufacture of Cadbury confectionary brands were licensed to Hershey.
Snapple, Mistic and Stewart's (formerly Cable Car Beverage) were sold by Triarc to Cadbury Schweppes in 2000 for $1.45 billion. In October of that same year, Cadbury Schweppes purchased Royal Crown from Triarc.
Demerger
In March 2007, it was revealed that Cadbury Schweppes was planning to split its business into two separate entities: one focusing on its main chocolate and confectionery market; the other on its US drinks business. The demerger took effect on 2 May 2008, with the drinks business becoming Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Inc. Cadbury is selling its Australian beverage unit to Asahi Breweries.
Recent developments
In October 2007, Cadbury announced the closure of the Keynsham chocolate factory, formerly part of Fry's. Between 500 and 700 jobs would be affected by this change. Production transferred to other plants in England and Poland.
In 2008 Monkhill Confectionery, the Own Label trading division of Cadbury Trebor Bassett (qv), was sold to Tangerine Confectionery for £58million cash. This sale included factories at Pontefract, Cleckheaton & York and a distribution centre near Chesterfield, and the transfer of around 800 employees.
In mid-2009 Cadbury replaced some of the cocoa butter in their chocolate products with palm oil. Despite claiming this was a response to consumer demand to improve taste and texture, there was no "new improved recipe" claim placed on the label. Consumer backlash was significant from environmentalists and chocolate lovers. By August 2009, the company announced that it was reverting to the use of cocoa butter. In addition, they would source cocoa beans through Fair Trade channels.
On 7 September 2009 Kraft Foods made a £10.2 billion indicative takeover bid for Cadbury. The offer was rejected, with Cadbury claiming that it undervalued the company. Kraft launched a formal, hostile bid for Cadbury valuing the firm at £9.8 billion on 9 November 2009.
Hershey Co., the Pennsylvania chocolate company, could try to top Kraft’s bid for Cadbury, according to the Business Standard. About 85% of Hershey's sales come from the United States, and buying Cadbury would broaden Hershey’s access to faster-growing international markets.
Operations
United Kingdom
Main article: Cadbury UKSee also: Cadbury IrelandCadbury plc also owns Trebor Bassett, Fry's, Maynards and Halls. The confectionery business in the UK is called Cadbury UK (formerly Cadbury Trebor Bassett) and, as of August 2004, had eight factories and 3,000 staff in the UK. Biscuits bearing the Cadbury brand, such as Cadbury Fingers, are produced under licence by Burton's Foods. Ice cream based on Cadbury products, like 99 Flake, is made under licence by Frederick's Dairies. Cadbury cakes and chocolate spread are manufactured under license by Premier Foods, but the cakes were originally part of Cadbury Foods Ltd with factories at Blackpole in Worcester and Moreton on the Wirral with distribution depots throughout the UK.
United States
Main article: Cadbury AdamsCadbury plc's presence in the United States consists of the confectionery unit Cadbury Adams, manufacturers of gum and mints but not chocolate. Cadbury merged with Peter Paul in 1978. Ten years later Hershey's acquired the chocolate business from Cadbury's. Accordingly, although the Cadbury group's chocolate products have been sold in the US since 1988 under the Cadbury name, the chocolate itself has been manufactured by Hershey's and can be found in Hershey's chocolate stores. Therefore, although some Cadbury products such as Whole Nut can be found in stores in the United States, the chocolate has a bitter taste compared to their counterparts sold in the United Kingdom. Prior to the May 2008 demerger, the North American business also contained beverage unit Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages. In 1982, Cadbury Schweppes purchased the Duffy-Mott Company.
Australasia
Cadbury also operate three Australasian confectionery factories, in Melbourne, Victoria (Ringwood and Scoresby), Hobart, Tasmania (Claremont), and Dunedin, New Zealand. The Claremont factory was once a popular tourist attraction and operated daily tours; however the factory ceased running full tours mid-2008, citing health and safety reasons. Cadbury Schweppes has been upgrading its manufacturing facility at Claremont, Tasmania, Australia, since 2001
Canada
Cadbury operates in Canada as well.
Executive compensation
In 2008 Todd Stitzer, Cadbury's CEO, was paid a £2,665,000 bonus. Combined with his annual salary of £985,000 and other payments of £448,000 this gives a total remuneration of over £4 million.
Accounting
In May 2006, Cadbury Schweppes announced that it would be outsourcing its transactional accounting and order capture functions to Shared Business Services (SBS) centres run by a company called Genpact, (a businesses services provider) in India, China, and Romania. This was to affect all business units and be associated with U.S. and UK functions being transferred to India by the end of 2006, with
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