Alcan sells beauty bottle business
Decoplast, to IPH Group Spid - a move that sees the small French
company breaking into beauty packaging for the first time,
reports Simon Pitman.
The business includes two facilities, located in Senlis, North-west of Paris and La Roche-sur-Foron, near the Swiss border, will become a part of IPH's business capabilities, which currently specialize in the injection of technical and design parts for the automotive, food and general packaging markets.
Niether company would divulge the exact terms of the agreement but was said to have been accepted unanimously by the workers' council.
Last year Decoplast recorded sales of €26 million and currently employs 312 people.
Alcan now has 11 manufacturing facilities in France, as well as a research and development centre and two main sales offices. The company said that it had sold off the Decoplast business in an effort to provide its beauty care packaging division with more focus.
"This transaction will enable Decoplast to benefit from new market opportunities with IPHGroup Spid," said Christel Bories, president and CEO, AlcanPackaging.
"Alcan's strategy is to focus its Packaging Beauty businesses on those areasin which it has a differentiated product offering," she added.
Following the announcement, shares on the New York stock exchange fell 26 cents yesterday to reach $30.36.
Alcan's packaging business has been battling tough conditions, particularly in light of the rising price of aluminium and continued consolidation within the industry as a whole.
However, the financial results for 2004 were strong, reflecting a string of successful acquisitions. Alcan's packaging business group profit (BGP) for the full year with net income nearly doubling from CAD$13.8 million in 2003, to CAD$248 million in 2004.
The division is truly global, with more than 100 operations and accounting for more than $3.5 billion in annual revenues.
