HEINZ LOOKS TO REDUCE ITS VARIETIES.

Byline: Claudia Coates Associated Press 

H.J. Heinz Co. is putting its Weight Watchers business on a diet as part of a reorganization that will close or sell 25 factories and eliminate 2,500 jobs.

The goal is to raise profits by focusing on such core businesses as ketchup, tuna and pet foods.

Pickles, a Heinz staple, are not off the hook. The company said some businesses still are being reviewed and Heinz Chief Executive Anthony J.F. O'Reilly is sour on the potential for growth in the pickles business.

The job cuts account for almost 6 percent of the company's work force of 43,000. The plants affected include 10 in North America, seven in Asia and the Pacific and four diet-food factories in Europe.

Heinz executives wouldn't tell which plants will close, wishing to inform employees first.

The 2,500 jobs to be eliminated do not include those at facilities the company is selling, including a part of the Ore-Ida frozen-foods business that Heinz said Friday is being purchased for $500 million by McCain Foods Ltd.

``This plan will make Heinz one of the three pre-eminent branded food companies in the world,'' said O'Reilly, who also is chairman of the board. The other two are Campbell Soup Co. and Sara Lee Corp., Heinz said.

O'Reilly said the goal is to generate earnings growth of 10 percent to 12 percent into the new century.

Nomi Ghez, an industry analyst for Goldman Sachs in New York, agreed that the overhaul was the way to bolster the bottom line.

``They're doing what they have to do,'' she said.

Heinz stock was up more than 2 percent at one point Friday, but wound up unchanged at $41.75 a share on the New York Stock Exchange.

O'Reilly told shareholders last fall that Heinz will shed all but its six core businesses of tuna, including the Starkist brand; condiments, including Heinz ketchup; Weight Watchers; baby food; pet food, including 9-Lives; and prepared foods for restaurants, including Ore-Ida frozen potatoes.

Part of the plans outlined at a meeting with industry analysts in San Francisco was the sale of six Ore-Ida factories to Canada's McCain Foods.

Heinz said the cost of its reorganization, after counting proceeds from plant sales, will reduce pre-tax profits by about $650 million for the fiscal year that ends April 30.

Among the factories to close is one of Heinz's five major ketchup factories in North America. The company will scale back operations or close as many as three tuna canneries and sell, downsize or close as many as five of the 10 bakeries.