Fresh BPI profits warning as costs hit
Published Date:
04 July 2008
By Hamish Rutherford
BRITISH Polythene Industries issued another profits warning yesterday after a sudden rise in raw material prices squeezed margins.
Greenock-headquartered BPI – Europe's largest plastic bag maker – has been warning for some time of the impact of material costs related to the oil price.
In an update yesterday, it 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 customers.
"We remain confident that, as with the cost increases of the last few years, we will recover margins as prices stabilise."
The small-cap company repeated an earlier warning that first-half profits were likely to be "somewhat behind" the six months to 30 June 2007.
BPI, which is chaired by Cameron McLatchie, warned: "We have experienced a downturn in demand from customers in the UK construction sector and parts of our industrial business are quite weak. However, this has been balanced by sound demand from agricultural and consumer related sectors."
Shares closed down 4.4 per cent at 234.25p.
The full article contains 193 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
-
Last Updated:
03 July 2008 9:01 PM
-
Source:
The Scotsman
-
Location:
Edinburgh
