Plastics processor Mareto GmbH has become the first industrial company to open a plant in the Austrian business park at Parndorf. The facility manufactures closures for plastic cosmetic tubes and sleeves for lipsticks. This subsidiary of Tupack Verpackungen GmbH (PO Box 31, A-1113 Vienna) has invested ATS 270m (EUR 19.6m) in the first stage of the project. At the opening ceremony, Mareto´s managing director, Thomas Reisner, and the managing director of the Wirtschaftspark Burgenland Nord GmbH, Peter Schmitt, signed an agreement on a second expansion stage, which will involve an investment of ATS 245m and is scheduled for completion in mid 2000. The company currently employs 79 people, a figure which should rise by 40-50 when the second stage is concluded.

Tupack claims to be the European market leader for lipstick sleeves, with a market share of 80%. Some 99.7% of production is exported. The company has a workforce of 600 in Vienna. Reisner expressed optimistim that Mareto would also book two-digit growth rates over the next few years, adding that “if everything works out well, it is possible that we could have a workforce of up to 200 in Parndorf,” For 1999, Mareto expects sales of ATS 130m; this should increase by another ATS 100m with the completion of stage II.