Following persistent operating losses at subsidiary Fiap Spa (I-22078 Turate; www.fiap.it), which added up to a net loss of USD 8.3m over the first three quarters of the 2003 business year (31.10.), AEP Industries Inc. (South Hackensack, New Jersey 07606 / USA; www.aepinc.com) has decided to shut down the Italian facility. Fiap is specialised in the production of thin PVC packaging film based on a proprietary technology. One particular speciality is cellophane-like torsional film of the type used for packaging candles, for example. Production capacity is in excess of 18,000 t/y. Fiap is to be wound up in the US group´s 2004 business year, which starts on 1 November 2003.

AEP Industries is a globally operating producer of packaging film, made primarily of PVC. In the 2002 business year, sales ran at USD 661m, including a total of USD 289m in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The company has been in the red since 1999. After the net loss of USD 14.4m in 1999 was improved to “only” USD 1.8m in 2002, it had reached more than USD 9.6m again after the first nine months of the 2003 business year on 31 July 2003.

AEP arrived in Europe in 1996 with its acquisition of the former Plastics Packaging Division of consumer-goods manufacturer Borden Inc. (Columbus, Ohio / USA). Today, the group has two other European divisions in addition to Fiap. “AEP Flexibles”, with its main facility in the Dutch town of Apeldoorn and two Belgian sites, specialises in pallet stretch film, together with multilayer film for foods and pharmaceutical applications. “AEP Resinite” which has facilities in France, Italy and Spain produces stretch and shrink film for fresh products and consumer goods. The two divisions together have an estimated capacity of more than 80,000 t/y.