Cadbury Schweppes has unveiled radical plans to axe about 7,800 of its 52,000-strong workforce and shut down as many as 10 manufacturing sites worldwide as part of a radical cost-cutting drive.

The plan, far more dramatic than expected, will see 15 per cent of Cadbury's staff made redundant and 15 per cent of its worldwide manufacturing sites shut over the next four years. The group operates in about 70 locations across the globe.

Cadbury, led by chief executive Todd Stitzer, will take a £450 million restructuring charge and invest £200 million in reshaping its business. A "global performance director", Alan Williams, has been appointed to oversee the process.

Today's cuts, laid out with a raft of targets, including revenue growth of between 4 per cent and 6 per cent per year, are far bigger than had been predicted. Weekend reports suggested 5,000 staff, or 10 per cent, faced redundancy.

A spokesman said: "We gave no guidance."

It is not yet known how many of Cadbury's 7,000 UK staff will be affected by the jobs cuts. Cadbury said it was preparing to consult staff and that it was too early to go into detail about where the axe would fall.

"This is a global process. We can't be definitive about that kind of thing at this stage," a spokesman said.

The group's historic location in Bournville - where a community grew up around the Cadbury factory - is unlikely to be dramatically affected. The spokesman would not be categoric but pointed out that the company had invested heavily in the location.

Cadbury will be quitting its Central London headquarters in Berkeley Square, its home for the past decade, to relocate to the Uxbridge-based offices of the UK confectionery arm near Heathrow airport. This is due to take place during the second quarter of next year.

Cadbury had occupied its London offices on a 25-year lease.

Mr Stitzer all but commited Cadbury's to a sale of its American drinks arm, expected to be worth about £7.5 billion. The company has been exploring a sale and a demerger but said today it had held sales talks with potential buyers and was minded to pursue this route.

Once this completes, Cadbury Schweppes will lose the Schweppes name and be rebranded as Cadbury plc.

Mr Stitzer said: "Over the past three years, we have made great strides in improving our business performance. The plans announced today represent the next step in transforming our confectionery business from being the biggest global confectionery company to being the biggest and the best.

"I am confident we have the strategy and the team to deliver continued strong growth and substantially increased returns."

Cadbury is the world leader in chocolate sales, with 9.9 per cent of the market, according to Euromonitor, a market research firm.

Mars and Nestlé come in second and third position with 9.9 per cent and 8.8 per cent, respectively, Euromonitor said.

In the US soft drinks market, Cadbury's ranges number three by some margin behind PepsiCo and Coca-Cola. As these two slug it out with about 25 per cent of the market apiece, Cadbury has had to content itself with a 9.6 per centh share.

Cadbury said it would run itself along four distinct geographical lines with four divisional presidents. These include Matt Shattock, who will run Britain, Ireland the Middle East and Africa. The other three regions are Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific.

Sales of non-core businesses in Australia, Canada and Italy will be pursued as part of a plan to deliver £250 million by the end of the year.

Cadbury shares rose in early trade, only to fall back 4.5p to 701.5p mid-morning.

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