One Fifty One Trading in Line with Expectations with post acquisition integration of Macro progressing well
Alan WalshDublin – One Fifty One plc , a leading rigid plastics manufacturer for the packaging, environmental containers and industrial products sectors, anticipates its full year earnings for 2017 will be in line with market expectations.
In June, Macro Plastics was acquired for $150 million by the Group’s North American subsidiary, IPL Plastics. North American operations account for around 75% of the Group’s revenues. It has performed strongly driven by continued organic growth and demand for its products in the US and Canadian markets. The performance of the OnePlastics business in Europe has been mixed.
The post-acquisition integration of Macro is well progressed, with the company having recently rolled out a five year strategic plan for the business. Trading since the acquisition of Macro has been solid and the business is expected to deliver full year results for 2017 in line with expectations announced at the time of acquisition. Macro has also recently received the first series of orders from a very significant automotive related contract which was anticipated at the time of acquisition.
The Group has further expanded its investment program in 2017 as a number of new customer led organic growth opportunities were identified. The most significant of these projects were in Canada and the US. These investments will enable the Group to accelerate its geographic expansion and customer reach across Canada and the United States to meet significant and growing market demand for its products.
Notwithstanding ongoing political and economic uncertainties, the UK business has performed better than the prior year on a constant currency basis. The Irish business has been adversely impacted by reduced demand from the Group’s largest customer and delays in embedding new customers into the new food grade facility in Cork which was commissioned for full production in 2017. The results in H2 2017 have been negatively affected by the decline in the value of the Canadian and US Dollars and by significantly increased resin and transport costs following the recent hurricanes in the US. The spike in resin pricing is expected to subside during the first half of 2018.
As reported in Plasteurope.com, One Fifty One shareholders have approved changing the companies name to IPL Plastics as it prepares itself for a public stock listing before the end of 2018.
“We are continuing to explore a possible IPO and have advanced this process in the last two months,” said Alan Walsh, Group Chief Executive, One Fifty One. “The integration of Macro, our most recent acquisition, is progressing well and we are excited by the opportunities for continued growth in the North American rigid-plastic market with a presence on the US West Coast. The group continues to invest heavily in expanding and optimizing our production facilities across all divisions. We have been adversely affected by the decline in the value of the Canadian and US Dollar and spikes in the price of resin and freight in the wake of the hurricanes in the US. Despite these challenges, we remain confident in the Group’s ability to grow the business into the future.”