Although business is somewhat better, it is still not good enough for plastics machinery manufacturer Milacron (Cincinnati, Ohio / USA; www.milacron.com). The group has announced that it fell narrowly short of its targets for sales and earnings in the third quarter. CEO Ronald Brown added that it probably also will miss its target for the year as a whole. For the second quarter, Milacron reported a net loss of USD 3.8m, compared with a loss of nearly USD 28m in the same period of last year.

Brown is now drawing up a new consolidation plan, mainly for the European plants, which have been in financial difficulty for some time. Brown said North American operations are performing “solidly,” while European markets are not giving management much pleasure. In Europe, the machinery group owns blow moulding machinery producer Uniloy Milacron (www.uniloymilacron.com) and mould maker DME (www.dmeeu.com), as well as Ferromatik Milacron (Malterdingen / Germany; www.ferromatik.com).