NEWS
IPL Plastics buys Loomans
IPL Plastics of Montreal, Canada, has expanded into continental Europe with the acquisition of Loomans Group in Belgium, a firm it said it had been tracking since 2015. The deal, which was announced in the context of IPL’s end-of- year-results, cost $85.5m, and was financed by existing cash resources and credit facilities. Loomans is a single- site tooling and plastics manufacturing business, with in-mould labelling expertise. IPL said that the deal was consistent with its acquisition strategy, diversifies its geographic footprint and adds new capacity and capabilities to serve a broader customer base such as the cosmetics, personal care and beverage sectors. Loomans will be integrat- ed into the Consumer Packaging Solutions business in Europe. In fiscal 2018, IPL said
its revenue increased by 22.7% to $657.8m, while adjusted EBITDA was $78.0m. It had a small net income of $1.8m, despite sustaining a loss in Q4. The positive impact of continued organic growth was offset by a change in product mix and by input cost pressures, particularly from high resin prices, IPL said. �
www.iplpgroup.com
4
Italy struggles with exports but boosts machine production
Italian plastics machinery manufacturers saw exports dip last year – though production, domestic demand and imports all rose. Overall, production of machinery was up by 0.6% to €4.7bn. Trade association Amaplast pointed out that this came after “the all-time record set the previous year”.
“On the whole, we are happy with the results from 2018,” said Alessandro Grassi, president of Amaplast. Amaplast members saw
revenues rise by around 3.6% in 2018, he added. Exports fell to €3.26bn in
2018, a fall of 1.5%. Much of this was due to stagnation in European markets – which are historically strong for Italian machinery. Exports to Germany – its main export market – fell by more than 2%. Further afield, there was a
fall of 13% in exports to China – though sales to the USA rose by more than 6% to
Top export markets for Italian plastics machinery, 2018 Total exports: €3.3bn
Germany 14.5%
United States 9%
Others 43.7%
France 5% Mexico 4.9% Spain 4.7%
Poland 4.7%
United Kingdom 3.7% Source: Amaplast/Istat
reach nearly €294m, and those to Mexico by nearly 12% to €159m.
Domestic demand for machinery rose nearly 5%, which Amaplast said was due to “support measures implemented in the previ- ous Stability Law”. Many Italian manufacturers saw increases in their order books in the second half of 2018, it added. In addition,
Turkey 2.9% China 2.9% Czech Republic 3.3%
sales of imported machinery rose by 3% to €1bn. Amaplast’s latest year-end member survey shows less optimism – or a reluctance to take risks – regarding orders and revenues, it said: in the latest half-year, fewer members expect an increase (or decrease) – while the proportion of those foresee- ing stability has increased. �
www.amaplast.org
Logoplaste appoints new CEO
Portuguese rigid plastic packaging firm Logoplaste has named Gerardo Chiaia as its new group CEO. Chiaia joined the manage- ment team in October 2018 as CEO for Europe and Asia, after previously working with a company partner. He has 24 years of experience in the plastic industry,
INJECTION WORLD | April 2019
having worked at Husky in various positions from technical service, to opera- tions and sales. He replaces Roberto Villaquiran, who has left after two years “for family reasons, and to pursue other activities”. Logoplaste operates
units at 61 factories. �
www.logoplaste.com
www.injectionworld.com
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