BPI ‘coping’ but sales lag
British Polythene Industries results for the first six months will remain “somewhat behind the same period for 2007”, it reported today (3 July). Europe’s largest manufacturer of polythene film, bags and sacks said it continued to trade in line with this outlook but had coped well with substantial increases in raw material and energy costs.
The company said that as previously indicated, volumes had been mixed and it had been “yet another difficult period”. BPI had experienced a downturn in demand from customers in the UK construction sector and parts of its industrial business were “quite weak”. However, this had been balanced by sound demand from agricultural and consumer related sectors.
A trading statement said: “We have very recently been notified of further substantial increases in raw material costs for July and the late notice from our suppliers will result in margin compression while we pass these costs on to our customers. We remain confident that, as with the cost increases of the last few years, we will recover margins as prices stabilise.”
