The information on this page comes from the UK Activity Report.
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Kimberly Clark has started work on a £33m expansion project at its tissue mill in Barrow, which will include a series of improvements that will restore its position as the largest such facility in Europe. 29-Dec-1999 Garnett is to build a new waste paper treatment plant at its Otley site early next year, in order to improve efficiency and product quality. 20-Dec-1999 HK Wentworth, the manufacturer of computer cleaning products, has extended its Swadlincote factory to house a new aerosol production line, and the 60-strong workforce is also being expanded. 16-Dec-1999 UCB Films is to invest £30m at its Wigton factory in Cumbria in order to increase production of label and overwrap films, and 60 jobs will be created. 13-Dec-1999 Crown Cork & Seal of the US is cutting 30 jobs at its packaging research site in Oxfordshire, as part of a global rationalisation. 10-Dec-1999 GEI Ayers & Grimshaw is to cut up to 60 of the 160 jobs at its packaging machinery factory in Barnstaple, due to a fall in orders. 10-Dec-1999 David S Smith is looking to spend up to £200m on acquisitions, in order to expand its paper and packaging business in France and Germany. 09-Dec-1999 Macfarlane, the packaging company, is to shed 150 jobs and close three sites in Hillington, Govan and an unspecified location in England, as part of a £5m restructuring. 08-Dec-1999 Remploy is to switch production at factories in Aberdeen, Motherwell, Wigan and Cleator Moor from textiles to packaging. 02-Dec-1999 SCA Packaging is planning to expand its factory in Peterlee with the creation of more than 50 jobs. 25-Nov-1999 De La Rue is planning to spend up to £180m on acquisitions over the next two years, while £104m is being returned to shareholders. 24-Nov-1999 AM Paper, the Lancashire-based tissue company, is setting up a 365,000 sq ft warehouse in St Helens. 20-Nov-1999 Welsh Development Agency has announced that Soten of Italy is to set up a £2.6m factory at Merthyr Tydfil to manufacture shrink-film packaging, with the creation of 47 jobs. 19-Nov-1999 Visqueen is to upgrade its polythene film-making facilities in Stockton in order to expand capacity and improve efficiency, with completion due in early 2000. 10-Nov-1999 Fibrenyle is to cut 30 jobs at its plastic packaging plant near Mansfield, as part of a reorganisation that will result in its pharmaceutical and cosmetics business being transferred to Norwich. 10-Nov-1999 Massilly of France has begun production at a refurbished jar-top factory at Williamstown in the Rhondda, where it will employ up to 80 workers by next spring. 10-Nov-1999 MY Holdings has received an offer from Malbak, the South African paper and packaging group that already owns a 63% stake. 06-Nov-1999 Lawson Mardon is to cut 22 jobs at its packaging factory in Workington, and further redundancies are expected next March. 04-Nov-1999 CPG Logistics has awarded a contract to Clugston for the construction of a £4.2m warehouse in Gosport. 04-Nov-1999 Polestar, the printing company, has awarded a £2.5m contract to Amec for the construction of a production plant at Pershore in Worcestershire. 04-Nov-1999 Shell and BASF are planning to merge their commodity plastics operations into a new joint venture company with annual sales of $6bn. 04-Nov-1999 Waddies is to sell the Edinburgh headquarters of its printing business, and will move some operations to Livingston and possibly London as part of its expansion plans. 03-Nov-1999 Weidenhammer Packaging of Germany has opened a sales office in Chester and is now planning to set up a UK factory to manufacture composite tubes and cardboard drums. 30-Oct-1999 Jarrold Book Printing is to close its colour book printing facility in Thetford with the loss of up to 82 jobs. 30-Oct-1999 Tetra Pak is to close its bottle-making factory in Bracknell with the loss of 63 jobs. 23-Oct-1999 Rigid Group has invested £1m on production and handling improvements at its Desborough corrugated plant, and is now looking for acquisitions and joint ventures in Europe. 16-Oct-1999 The Industrial Development Board is to support a £2m plan by UPU Industries to expand its agricultural packaging factory in Dromore, Northern Ireland, with the creation of 17 jobs. 14-Oct-1999 St Ives is planning to invest £100m on new printing plants over the next two years, and is seeking acquisitions of about £50m. 13-Oct-1999 Jarvis Porter is in negotiations to sell its electronic labels business to NatWest Equity Partners for up to £70m. 09-Oct-1999 Rockware Glass is to set up a £5m warehouse in Doncaster, which will coincide with a £15m investment to expand beer bottle production at Knottingley. 09-Oct-1999 Nichol Beauty Products is merging with Robert McBride to create an enlarged aerosols business with sales of £50m a year, but up to 300 jobs could be shed in Norfolk if production is transferred to Hull. 06-Oct-1999 Hoechst Trespaphan is to close its cling-film factory in Swindon by the end of the year with the loss of 270 jobs, but sales and administrative functions will be retained. 06-Oct-1999 Creative Packaging, the packaging design company, has moved into new premises at the Cardiff Bay Business Centre in Ocean Park. 02-Oct-1999 Arjo Wiggins Appleton is considering plans to sell or demerge its paper merchanting division, which is valued by analysts at more than £500m. 30-Sep-1999 Chequer Foods is to close its Trentpak drinks packing facility near Maldon with the loss of 70 jobs. 29-Sep-1999 Cardinal Packaging, the Ebbw Vale-based manufacturer of plastic bags, is to expand its factory and recruit new staff having secured funding from GE Capital. 29-Sep-1999 Waddington, the printing and packaging group, has received a takeover approach from its management. 21-Sep-1999 Sentinel, the US manufacturer of packaging foam, is to set up a European headquarters in Plymouth with the creation of 200 jobs over the next four years. 21-Sep-1999 Spear Europe, the US-owned labelling systems company, is planning to open a printworks near Newport in South Wales to produce self-adhesive film labels for beer and spirits bottles. 18-Sep-1999 British Polythene Industries is shedding 185 jobs this year, with the closure of its Dundee factory following on from the recent closure of its Stourton factory. 14-Sep-1999 Rexam is aiming to become one of the world's largest consumer packaging groups by spending up to £500m on acquisitions and by selling its printing and windows operations. 10-Sep-1999 Jefferson Smurfit has announced a £5m reorganisation into three separate divisions - corrugated, paper and specialities - in response to slower growth in the paper and packaging industry. 10-Sep-1999 Dexter Nonwovens, the Berwickshire-based manufacturer of paper disposables, is to cut 16 jobs. 09-Sep-1999 Rexam is in negotiations to sell its European pharmaceutical printed packaging business to Boxmore International. 26-Aug-1999 Schmalbach-Lubeca Continental Can Europe is to close its beer can factory at the Nantgarw Business Park in Cardiff with the loss of 47 jobs, due to overcapacity in the marketplace. 25-Aug-1999 Chapman Envelopes is to cut 40 of the 180 jobs at its envelopes factory in Darwen. 20-Aug-1999 Sappi Europe is to cut 75 jobs at its paper mill in Blackburn in order to streamline the operation. 18-Aug-1999 Rexam has selected a partnership between MailWell of the US and Mercury Private Equity as preferred bidder for its printing business, and a £90m deal is expected within two months. 17-Aug-1999 CE King, the Chertsey-based packaging machinery manufacturer, has been acquired by DT Industries of the US. 12-Aug-1999 Clondalkin, the Irish printing and packaging company, has received a £252m takeover approach that could lead to a management buy-out. 12-Aug-1999 PAT Print of Nottingham is merging with seven other companies to form a new specialist packaging group called Panoply Group, with manufacturing sites in Huntingdon, St Neots, Nottingham and Holmes Chapel. 10-Aug-1999 Print Cafe, the Plymouth-based printing company, is closing down due to problems with machinery. 06-Aug-1999 Reckitt & Colman is to cut 1,500 jobs across the UK due to a fall in profits in household products, which could affect some of the 350 workers at its Derby-based aerosol manufacturing plant. 04-Aug-1999 Arjo Wiggins Appleton is planning to further restructure its paper business in the second half of this year, which will lead to more closures. 29-Jul-1999 Shaw Export Services and Alkron Packers have undergone a £5.1m management buy-out with the support of the Newcastle office of 3i, in order to build up a major national packing service. 22-Jul-1999 Senator is to extend its print finishing factory in Leicester at a cost of £0.3m, in order to meet demand for materials produced under clean and secure conditions. 22-Jul-1999 Reed Print & Design is to open a new factory at North Tyne Industrial Estate in Benton to provide a packaging service for the pharmaceutical and food industries, and about 100 jobs will be created. 20-Jul-1999 Perfecseal is to set up a £8.4m R&D facility to develop sterile medical packaging products in Londonderry. 20-Jul-1999 Bristol Blue Glass is to relocate its glass products business to a larger facility at Three Queens Lane in Bristol. 16-Jul-1999 Armitage Typo Graphics, the Huddersfield-based print and design services company, has gone into liquidation with the loss of 20 jobs. 07-Jul-1999 Low & Bonar is planning to sell its North American plastic bags operation by the end of November for about £80m, and 20 potential buyers have expressed an interest. 07-Jul-1999 British Alcan is cutting 30 of the 90 jobs at its Kinlochleven smelter, and will close the facility completely during the first half of next year. 06-Jul-1999 Decorpart, the manufacturer of containers for the cosmetics market, is to cut 22 jobs at its factory in Nelson following a fall in worldwide demand. 06-Jul-1999 De La Rue is in discussions to sell its cards division, which manufactures magnetic strip and smart cards, and is said to have a shortlist of three trade bidders from continental Europe. 03-Jul-1999 Liberfabrica, the Bath-based book manufacturer, is discussing plans for a £55m management buy-out. 01-Jul-1999 Fort James is planning to expand its Horwich paper-making headquarters, having won approval for a land-swap deal with Tesco that will enable it to combine its two sites onto one. 01-Jul-1999 David S Smith is to close its Silverton paper mill in Devon with the loss of 200 jobs, and various options are being considered for the future of its corrugated box business. 30-Jun-1999 Duke Street Capital has raised its stake in Steiner Industries, the Austrian plastic containers company, from 31 to 65%. 29-Jun-1999 Rockware is to invest £15m at its glass bottles factory in Knottingley in order to increase capacity by 10%, and the money will be spent on a new furnace and glass handling equipment. 28-Jun-1999 Heidelberg Finishing Systems is to close its bookbinding machine factory in Slough later this year, with the loss of 300 jobs. 21-Jun-1999 Kimberly Clark is to invest £7.5m in a new distribution facility at its tissues factory in Flint, North Wales, and logistics companies are being invited to tender for the contract to operate the warehouse. 18-Jun-1999 CVC Capital Partners is acquiring a 56% stake in BSN Emballage, the glass packaging business, from Danone, and the new entity is buying six factories from Gerresheimer of Germany. 16-Jun-1999 Blagden Packaging is closing its industrial steel drums business in St Philips, Bristol, and will move the work to Manchester with the loss of up to 54 jobs. 15-Jun-1999 Rigid Containers is to close its factory in Middleton with the loss of up to 85 jobs, and production will be transferred to Desborough near Kettering. 15-Jun-1999 Plysu is looking to spend up to £30m on international acquisitions in order to set up a global service for the supply of plastic containers. 15-Jun-1999 Low & Bonar is looking to sell its North American industrial packaging business, which has sales of about £90m, in order to reduce debt. 10-Jun-1999 Chapelthorpe, the household textiles company formerly called Readicut, is said to be discussing the sale of its Shaw Export Services packaging business. 09-Jun-1999 Wyndeham Press is acquiring CSM Impact, the printer of magazine covers, for £7m, and has also announced plans to sell its small packaging division. 09-Jun-1999 Arjo Wiggins Appleton is to close a paper mill in Dover with the loss of 150 jobs, and a further 60 jobs will be cut in Aberdeen as part of a £15m cost-cutting campaign in its premium fine paper business. 05-Jun-1999 MY Holdings is looking to spend up to £70m on acquisitions to expand its packaging business, and is thought to be interested in folding carton operations being put up for sale by Jefferson Smurfit and Rexam. 01-Jun-1999 Chapman Containers, the cardboard box manufacturer based in Clayton-le-Moors, has been acquired by a new company called Braeside Street for undisclosed terms. 27-May-1999 Sonoco is planning to expand its composite can business with a £2m investment at its Manchester plant, involving the installation of three new lines to produce cans of different diameter. 27-May-1999 AM Paper, the soft tissues company, has appointed investment bank JP Morgan to examine ways of financing its rapid growth, which could result in the business being sold. 21-May-1999 Macfarlane is planning to expand its packaging business through joint ventures and licences in the US and Europe, and has completed a reorganisation that cut 250 staff and closed three manufacturing locations. 19-May-1999 GEI International, the packaging machinery company, has uncovered accounting irregularities at its GEI Autowrappers subsidiary in Norwich prompting speculation about its future as an independent company. 18-May-1999 Arjo Wiggins Appleton is in discussions with Cascades of Canada about the sale of a paper production facility in Sainte-Marie, France. 13-May-1999 Fort James UK is considering plans to close the Larne Paper Mill in East Antrim with the loss of 150 jobs, in order to reduce costs and maximise efficiency in its manufacturing network. 12-May-1999 AVC is to set up a facility in Abertillery to manufacture a reusable air-tight plastic container that telescopes to expel air as the level of liquid inside the bottle falls. 11-May-1999 Zonal is closing Zonal Audio Plastics, its Invergordon-based plastics business which makes CD and cassette cases, with the loss of 16 jobs. 11-May-1999 Charles Turner & Co is planning a £7m expansion at its paper mill in Bolton, including a new building and the installation of a tissue machine. 06-May-1999 CPG Logistics has applied for planning permission to expand its packaging plant at Fareham Reach in Gosport, creating up to 150 jobs. 05-May-1999 Low & Bonar has announced plans to restructure its plastics and packaging business, which is expected to lead to the sale of a number of non-core businesses. 30-Apr-1999 Jarvis Porter is considering further rationalisation in its labels and packaging business once its present £7.5m restructuring programme is complete, as it believes it still has too many locations. 28-Apr-1999 AM Paper, the supplier of own-label tissue, has opened its new £30m Tawd Mill facility in Skelmersdale. 24-Apr-1999 Chatsworth Studios, the Tyneside-based printing company, has gone into liquidation with the loss of 40 jobs. 20-Apr-1999 Alexir Packaging is planning to relocate its Burgess Hill operation to Uckfield, with the creation of 30 jobs. 19-Apr-1999 Delta Print & Packaging is to create an extra 20 jobs in Belfast, having won an order to supply cartons to McDonald's outlets throughout Ireland and the UK. 13-Apr-1999 James Crean is planning to demerge its remaining packaging and US food businesses over the next few weeks, and has also announced the sale of its electrical distribution division to WF Electrical for £16m. 10-Apr-1999 Arjo Wiggins Appleton is to close a paper coating plant in Cardiff with the loss of 400 jobs. 10-Apr-1999 BWI, the packaging machinery company, is in discussions with a number of potential bidders and a deal is expected to be announced soon. 09-Apr-1999 David S Smith is forming a commercial alliance with Kappa Packaging of the Netherlands and Saica of Spain to offer a pan-European service for the supply of corrugated packaging. 08-Apr-1999 Ardagh is to invest £14.5m at its recently-acquired Rockware Glass factory in Knottingley, raising hopes that the 250-strong workforce will be expanded. 06-Apr-1999 RPC Group has bought PET container manufacturing equipment from Able Industries at a cost of £4m, as Able is pulling out of the market in order to focus on PET preforms and bottles. 05-Apr-1999 Felix Schoeller is to close its paper-making factory in Wooburn Green, Buckinghamshire, with the loss of 250 jobs. 26-Mar-1999 Capital Industries is closing its Birmingham-based food containers subsidiary, just 12 months after acquiring it. 24-Mar-1999 Boxmore International has won two major pan-European pharmaceutical packaging supply contracts from Merck and Hoechst Marion Roussel. 23-Mar-1999 Litho Supplies, the printing and graphics company, is discussing a £36m management buy-out. 18-Mar-1999 De La Rue has announced a £40m restructuring programme that will cut 500 jobs in its cash systems division, and the workforce in the Portsmouth area will be hardest hit. 17-Mar-1999 Rexam has put its printing and windows businesses up for sale, as part of a strategy to focus on consumer packaging and coated films and papers. 12-Mar-1999 Bunzl is acquiring Provend, the catering and vending company, for £28m, and may decide to sell the beverage vending side of the business. 09-Mar-1999 Kruger Tissue is to double the size of its disposable paper products factory at Penygroes in Gwynedd, in a £3.5m project that will safeguard 200 jobs. 05-Mar-1999 Boxmore International has paid £0.7m for a controlling stake in Derndruck Verpackungen, the German supplier of printed cartons to the pharmaceutical industry. 26-Feb-1999 Bonar Cartons has confirmed that the former Metal Box factory in Speke will close in the next few months, with the loss of 150 jobs. 24-Feb-1999 Remploy, the government-backed company that specialises in employing disabled people, is considering plans to close its packaging factories in North Staffordshire in order to merge them onto an undisclosed site elsewhere. 23-Feb-1999 Jarvis Porter, the labels company, is to cut up to 300 jobs following a strategy review, and plant closures will be announced over the coming weeks. 23-Feb-1999 RR Donnelley, the printing company, is said to considering plans to move out of York to the former Samsung factory site near Knaresborough. 19-Feb-1999 Pechiney is taking a controlling stake in Pet Plas, the Leeds-based plastic bottles company, for undisclosed terms. 18-Feb-1999 Linpac Containers has formed a marketing alliance with THIMM Verpackung of Germany and Emin Leydier Emballages of France to offer a pan-European corrugated packaging supply service. 11-Feb-1999 Keenpac Holdings, the distributor of retail packaging to the fashion industry, is receiving a £14m equity investment from NatWest Equity Partners. 11-Feb-1999 Readicut International is to cut 62 jobs at its Chamberlain Coatings wallcoverings factory in Bishop Auckland. 06-Feb-1999 Rexam Medical Packaging has won a £750,000 order to supply sterile packaging to Becton Dickinson, the world's largest producer of syringes. 05-Feb-1999 GEI International, the packaging machinery group, is reorganising its manufacturing operations by moving the GEI Ashford activities from Kent to its Barnstaple site. 05-Feb-1999 CRP Print & Packaging has opened a £4m production facility at Corby to manufacture litho and flexo printed corrugated packs. 28-Jan-1999 Mopack Systems is investing £1.2m in the expansion of its flexible plastic packaging factory in Strabane, with the creation of 10 new jobs. 28-Jan-1999 Field Group, the packaging company that has just recommended a £194m takeover offer from Chesapeake, has been approached by Shorewood Packaging of the US which raises the prospect of a bidding war. 26-Jan-1999 Ferguson International is considering plans to sell its food, personal care and beverage labelling division to SE Labels of Norway. 26-Jan-1999 Smith Anderson is considering plans to transfer the manufacture of polyethylene bags from its Blairgowrie factory to Falkland in Fife, which would mean moving 39 jobs. 21-Jan-1999 Domino Printing Sciences is seeking to expand its range of products into other areas of packaging, such as labelling and bar codes, through alliances and acquisitions. 20-Jan-1999 Arjo Wiggins Appleton, the Anglo-French paper company, is to reorganise itself along product rather than regional lines, which could lead to the eventual break-up of the group. 13-Jan-1999 CartoInvest of Italy is to set up an £18m tissue paper factory at the Oakenholt paper mill in north Wales, creating 140 jobs. 12-Jan-1999 Field, the packaging group, has received an approach that could lead to a takeover bid being made for the company. 12-Jan-1999 BWI, the packaging and process machinery company, has received a number of takeover approaches, including a possible management buyout. 07-Jan-1999 Duni of Sweden is to close its tableware factory in Runcorn with the loss of 130 jobs. 06-Jan-1999 Great Western Packaging is opening a new distribution facility in Newbury, creating up to 20 jobs. 01-Jan-1999 The information on this page comes from the UK Activity Report. 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