In a trading statement earlier this month, the Anglo-Australian company BTR said that it had disposed of businesses representing UK 1.6 billion (US$ 2.60 billion) of turnover, against a target of UK 2…
In a trading statement earlier this month, the Anglo-Australian company BTR said that it had disposed of businesses representing UK 1.6 billion (US$ 2.60 billion) of turnover, against a target of UK 2.3 billion of sales it aims to have achieved by the end of 1997. The company“s new strategy, launched by chief executive Ian Strachan in September this year, seeks to generate profitable growth by concentrating on its top industrial manufacturing and engineering businesses. The company now expects to use about UK 100 million of a restructuring provision announced in September in 1996. Actions already taken include reorganising several German industrial units and glass packaging operations in Australia. In November, a joint venture agreement was signed to establish a second PET plastic packaging company in China. BTR is investing UK 7.6 million to acquire a 70% shareholding in a new company – ACI Qingdao Plastics Packaging Company Ltd. BTR said that demand for glass containers has been good in Australia and the UK, PET operations in the US and Europe have performed well in comparison to 1995, laminates in North America and Europe have made progress, while the depressed building sector in Australia has adversely affected demand. BTR has also established a Representative Office in Shanghai which was opened in November and will support the development of BTR activities in China. In a similar move an office has been opened in Jakarta that will provide support for development in the Indonesian glass sector.