Danish Crown is cutting around 800 jobs over the next three years as the meat producer "consolidates key functions".

The changes will affect managers and white-collar employees amid moves to consolidate "central group functions across business units", the co-op said.

The job cuts will take place across countries and business units, Danish Crown said.

In a statement, the company said it was forming a “simpler” organisational structure with fewer management layers.

There will be “broader and more clearly defined” leadership roles, as well as “more direct reports” under each individual manager, the statement read.

CEO Niels Ulrich Duedahl added: “Our business units largely operate as independent companies. We are changing that by bringing our businesses closer together. We need to operate as one fully integrated group across business areas and across countries."

The co-op has eight business units: Industry, Foods, Beef, its UK business, Swedish slaughterhouse KLS, Sokołów in Poland, bulk meat trading arm Ess-Food and casings producer DAT-Schaub.

Duedahl said: “Instead of doing things differently depending on which country you are based in, we need shared standards, systems, and targets. Over the next two to three years, this means fewer management layers and fewer employees."

The move to the new model is expected to generate what Danish Crown called "efficiency improvements" of around DKr500m ($77.9m).

Last month, Danish Crown booked a decline in half-year operating profits. The company said its first-half performance was “as expected” even as African swine fever in Spain disrupted supplies and weighed on net earnings.

The group’s EBIT more than halved to DKr631m from DKr1.33bn in the corresponding six months a year earlier.

Danish Crown’s revenue declined 2.6% to DKr31.6bn, reflecting lower slaughter volumes and weaker average sales prices amid heavy pressure in the European fresh meat market, partly due to increased supply linked to Chinese tariffs.