US alcoholic drinks distributor Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) is to lay off thousands of staff as the result of its wind down of operations in California.

The major drinks distributor announced plans to leave California last month.

According to a series of Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) notices filed by the group on 1 Jul, 1,756 jobs are to be affected.

The layoffs will be effective from 2 September, which is also when RNDC expects to officially exit California.

When it initially announced its departure from the state in June, a company spokesperson said: "We’ve made the difficult business decision to withdraw from California which affects many of the roles in the state."

The group had seen several significant contracts in the state come to an end in recent months, such as Brown-Forman which shifted to RNDC's peer Reyes Beverage Group in February.

Earlier this year, Tito’s Handmade Vodka also switched from RNDC to Reyes Beverage Group for its California distribution.

Other drinks companies working with RNDC include Treasury Wine Estates.

Following the announcement of RNDC's departure from California, in a stock exchange filing at the time, the Penfolds winemaker said the distributor's exit would not impact its financial results in its current financial year, which ended in June.

It added at the time: “TWE has begun evaluating alternative distribution arrangements for its portfolio in California to determine an appropriate path forward.

“TWE’s relationship with RNDC spans 25 US states, including California. The closure of RNDC’s California operations is not expected to impact the remainder of its business, and RNDC has reiterated its commitment to investing behind and driving TWE’s portfolio in the remaining 24 states.”

In February, the group announced that its president and CEO Nick Mehall would be stepping down after three years.

The company's COO Bob Henrickson was appointed interim CEO, officially entering the role in March.