There was no sugar coating to today’s measures from the world's biggest confectioner: a gruelling global restructuring that will see 7,500 jobs cut and 10 factories closed.

The announcement of the more-stringent-than-expected shake-up can be seen as a de facto defence document, an attempt by Todd Stitzer, chief executive, to pre-empt the threat of a takeover following the imminent £7.5 billion sale of its US beverages business.

Cadbury’s strong set of brands makes it an attractive target for private equity or a food rival such as Kraft. And unencumbered by fizzy drinks, it will also be a smaller and more digestible target.

But Cadbury’s strategy does not ride on retrenchment alone. Investment in low-sugar sweets and further bolt-on acquisitions are clearly on the cards, and Mr Stitzer has made no secret of his desire to pull off a more transformational merger with the likes of Hershey, if it could ever be achieved. The Pennsylvania chocolate maker, to whom Cadbury ironically sold its US confectionery business in the 1980s, has a tangled ownership structure which in the past has hindered such a deal.

But with beverages out of the way, those barriers look lower than ever before.

Times Recommends

• Minister in talks with Saudis to protect creditors
• Premier Inn hits back in £29-a-room row
• Bankers hit back at 'populist' bonus supertax