Tánaiste opens new US$100 million facility for Pepsi-Cola's in Cork.

New facility to employ 250 people and existing facility to be expanded

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment, Mary Harney T.D., today (Monday 15^th September 2003) officially opened Pepsi-Cola's new facilityat Carrigaline, Co. Cork. The US$100 million investment, which is supported by IDA Ireland, will create 250 new jobs within five years.

It is Pepsi-Cola's second Europe/Asia concentrate manufacturing operation in Ireland and Pepsi-Cola is also adding higher value added activities such as global marketing services, quality services and shared financial services operations at the facility. The Tánaiste also confirmed that an additional US$10 million will be invested in the further development of Pepsi-Cola's existing facility at Little Island.

Making the announcement in Cork where she performed the official opening of the new facility at a 25 acre site at Kilnagleary, Crosshaven Road, Carrigaline the Tánaiste said: "This high-calibre investment by a world leader such as Pepsi-Cola demonstrates that where maintaining the highest standards of product quality, production standards and efficiency are of critical importance to global companies Ireland still ranks among the leading locations worldwide for such operations. It is our ability to provide the highest quality skilled people at all level of the operation that enables Ireland to continue to win such investments."

"Through this investment Pepsi-Cola will further increase its already important contribution to the Irish economy and will bring a major boost to the whole Co. Cork area through the new jobs it will provide. I congratulate the Irish management and workforce on winning these significant developments for Ireland," she added.

The new Carrigaline facility is already up-and-running and in its rapid start-up has recruited 100 of the new jobs. It is an expansion of Pepsi-Cola's existing Europe/Asia concentrate operations at Little Island, providing additional concentrate production capacity. The global marketing service, quality services and shared financial services operations, will meet the continuing growth of the business and the introduction of new products by Pepsi-Cola on a worldwide basis. The global marketing services will handle consumer insights, global intelligence gathering and knowledge management. The quality services will be responsible for all international quality assurance laboratories and the shared financial services will deal across all product lines with an ever-increasing customer base and a number of sister divisions including North America.

"These new developments strengthen Ireland's strategic role in supporting Pepsi-Cola sales over such a wide area of the world. Our decision to locate a second facility in Cork is a reflection on how well the Little Island facility has performed since its establishment in 1974," said Ms. Dawn Hudson, President of Pepsi-Cola North America, who together with Mr. Peter Thompson, President & CEO PepsiCo Beverages International, travelled to Ireland for the announcement.

"This is a great day for our Irish operations," according to Frank O'Mahony, Vice-President Europe/Asia Concentrate Operations. "The continued success of Little Island was the main factor behind the establishment of the Carrigaline facility and it is great news that Little Island is also to benefit from a further $10 million investment this year." PepsiCo Ireland employs some 260 people between the concentrate manufacturing operations at Little Island and Carrigaline. Over 550 people were involved in the construction of the Carrigaline facility.

With revenues of about $25 billion, PepsiCo ranks as the world's fourth largest food and beverage company. It includes: Frito-Lay, the world's largest manufacturer and distributor of snacks; Pepsi-Cola, the second largest soft drink business; Tropicana, the largest marketer and producer of branded juices; Gatorade, the world's leading sports drink, and Quaker Foods, which merged with PepsiCo in August 2001.

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