Washington - PepsiCo Inc said Tuesday it would cut 3,300 jobs as profits dipped and the company lowered its forecast for the rest of 2008.

Third-quarter net income decreased to 1.58 billion dollars, or by 9.6 per cent, from 1.74 billion a year earlier, the second-largest soft drink company in the world announced.

PepsiCo plans to save 1.2 billion dollars over three years by closing six plants and reducing 1.8 per cent of its workforce, chief financial officer Richard Goodman told Bloomberg news. He didn't specify which plants would be shuttered.

A majority of the savings will be used to boost the company's business in North America, while also increasing investments in developing markets.

Drinks sales in the United States and Canada fell 3 per cent in the third quarter as consumers dropped soft drinks from their grocery lists because of increasing food prices.

"We were adversely impacted by continued weakness in the US liquid refreshment beverage category, which resulted in disappointing performance in our domestic beverage business," PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi said in a statement.

Full-year earnings were expected to be in the range of 3.67 dollars to 3.68 dollars a share, which is lower than the company's July prediction of 3.72 dollars. "The company expects that the recent surge in the US dollar will likely have an adverse impact on fourth- quarter earnings," a statement said.

PepsiCo is one of the largest snack food and beverage makers in the world, with a 2007 annual revenue of more than 39 billion dollars. It employs 185,000 people worldwide and its products include brands such as Frito Lay snacks, Pepsi Cola, Gatorade sports drinks, Tropicana juices and Quaker foods. (dpa)