The Czech Republic firm Iris has become the majority owner of the country“s glass manufacturer Moser by acquiring a 43.3% stake when 52% of Moser held by the state was offered in direct sale. Iris th…
The Czech Republic firm Iris has become the majority owner of the country“s glass manufacturer Moser by acquiring a 43.3% stake when 52% of Moser held by the state was offered in direct sale. Iris thus raised its total holding to 68.3%, the National Property Fund“s spokesman Milos Ruzicka announced last week. Iris is, in fact, made up of Moser“s management. The remaining 8.7% of the state stake was sold to the firm“s heir, Antonin Moser, who thus raised his stake in Moser to 13.7%. Moser“s shares are not traded on the Czech bourse. Moser“s director, Antonin Vlk, said that last year the glass manufacturer made a Kc 3 million gross profit on sales revenue totalling Kc 170 million. Profit was down Kc 2 million against 1995 while turnover remained the same. The decline in profit was due to higher expenditure for the support of sales and publicity linked to the 140th anniversary of the firm“s founding. Moser, which exported around 55% of production last year, interrupted cooperation with the trading company Skloexport and took almost all exports into its own hands. In 1996, Moser“s 390-strong workforce turned out 168,000 cut glass products for which it melted 700,000 kilos of parison.