Resilux sales dropped 15% in the first half of 2004

Belgian PET preform manufacturer Resilux has reported “extremely weak” demand for its products, blaming a poor summer in Europe and a sharp drop in exports to dollar-zone countries.

Preform sales in the first half of this year – at 833 million units – were 15% lower compared with the same period last year. Resilux’s bottle sales fell 6% to 207 million units.

“The German market remained extremely weak, and this had an effect on both single use packaging and the insufficient increase in refillable packages. The customers of Resilux, who are mostly [major] brands, lost volumes because of the poor climate, the weak consumption in general and the loss of market share to discounters,” the company said.

The weakness was confined to standard products; Resilux said demand rose rapidly for its advanced multi-layer preforms, especially for fruit juice and beer packaging. The poor summer took its toll on the financial figures. Net profit in the first half was down 53% to E1.5m while turnover fell 17.7% to E70.8m.

The company has production units in Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Greece, Russia, Hungary, and a joint-venture in the US.