End of the line for PepsiCo-Ivi operations

Ninety years after the first production of soft drinks in Greece under the name Ivi, and 43 years after the Ivi-Panagopoulos company first started making Pepsi Cola in the country, the machinery at the PepsiCo-Ivi plants ground to a halt on Monday.

PepsiCo, the multinational parent company of PepsiCo-Ivi, on Monday announced the end of operations at its plant in Inofyta, Viotia, after six loss-making years, making the soft drinks giant the latest of many international companies to have shipped out of Greece. The plant will turn into a storage unit.

The announcement came from Christophe Guille, the parent company's general manager for Central Europe and the Greater Balkans, saying that "the firm will safeguard its competitiveness and be able to realize its plans for long-term growth on the local level."

In early 2013 PepsiCo-Ivi had shut down its water bottling...