Heinz is to sell some weaker European businesses and restructure its senior management so it can innovate more quickly as the US food producer's European division struggles for profits.

Europe, which accounts for 40 per cent of Heinz's sales, has been suffering from declining profits, in part due to increasing pressure from so-called hard discounter retailers in the region.

Hard discounters, which carry their own-label products at low prices, have stolen market share from other retailers and food manufacturers as they have expanded across Europe. The company employs around 400 at its frozen and chilled foods facility at Dundalk, county Louth, was established in 1992 to manufacture frozen and chilled pizzas.

An additional €25 million was invested 1996 and the plant was designated as the centre of excellence for research, development and manufacture of frozen ready meals in Europe.

Heinz executives yesterday said that cost-cutting actions to address the region's underperformance were not enough and that Heinz needed to take a "fundamentally different" approach to its business.

The company said it had identified a cluttered portfolio and a complex organisational structure as two main reasons for its underperformance in Europe.

Heinz will sell its HAK prepared vegetables business in the Netherlands, which had sales of about $75 million (€60 million) in 2005.

It will also consider the selling of its European seafood and frozen businesses as well as its Tegel poultry business in New Zealand.