RPC interim results reveal slight drop in pre-tax profit
11 December 2006 – While issuing its interim results today, the rigid plastics packaging group RPC has announced the purchase of Barplas, a manufacturer of pails and paint cans for the surface coatings market in the UK.
Based in Bradford, UK, Barplas was acquired from the Barghout family and in 2005 had sales of £4.3m and EBITA of £0.9m. RPC said that it had paid £4.2m for the company.
RPC has seen its pre-tax profit fall to £12.9m in the six months to 30 September, compared to £13.3m over the same period last year.
The group said sales in the first half were stable on a like-for-like basis, with the underlying operating profit improving to £19.1m from £18.4m, while its turnover remained flat at £308.4m (£307.8m).
The board has declared an interim dividend of 2.7p (2005: 2.5p), an increase of 8%.
The group said its injection moulding volumes were comparable with last year and that there had been a recovery in the surface coatings market in the UK.
In trying to address its cost base, the group said its biggest injection moulding operation in Germany had agreed to extend its working week by 3.5 hours at no extra cost.
The group also said that it had achieved headcount reductions in the UK and had focused on temporary workers on mainland Europe.
Volumes in thermoforming had suffered a 7% year-on-year fall. A contributing factor was a drop in demand for fruit bowls, affecting the group’s Cobelplast sheet business and its Bebo factory in the Netherlands. Another factor was Tedeco-Gizeh, the group’s disposables business, losing a major contract in the Netherlands.
In blow-moulding, the group’s co-extrusion operation at Corby, its PET business at Llantrisant, and operation in Kutenholz in Germany were said to have performed well. In the Benelux, RPC had a “more difficult time”, and said that poor weather in the first half of 2006 had adversely affected sales of agrichemicals.
