If the first-half 2008 figures of Italian injection moulding machinery manufacturer Negri Bossi (Monzese / Italy; www.negribossi.it) did not exactly presage a positive outlook for the full year, the nine-month results showed that the balance sheet will bleed red ink. From EUR 7.8m in the year’s first two quarters, the cumulative loss had mounted to EUR 10.7m by the end of September. EBIT worsened year-on-year, from a negative EUR 1m in the first nine months of 2007 to a loss of EUR 8.7m in the 2008 period, and sales declined 15% to EUR 76.9m.

Company president Augusto Machirelli attributed the dismal performance this year to "extremely poor economic conditions." Not only is 2008 expected to be negative on the whole; the machinery manufacturer, which was saddled with a net debt of EUR 68m in this year’s 2008 first half compared with EUR 43m in the 2007 period, also sees little hope of a turn for the positive in 2009, if the economic outlook does not brighten considerably.

In an attempt to staunch the bleeding, HPS, the holding for Negri Bossi parent company Sacmi Imola (Imola / Italy; www.sacmi.com), wants to speed up its planned takeover of all of the company’s shares. This, it said, is the only feasible way to implement a total reorganisation and return the company to profitability. In the takeover offer expired on 19 November 2008 HPS achieved a shareholding of only 88.85%. This is below the 90% required for a squeeze-out. However, HPS told Plasteurope.com that it will pursue the transaction.

A successful share purchase would pave the way for Sacmi to implement the usual corporate cost-cutting and efficiency-enhancing measures. One move being weighed is the merger of Negri Bossi with one or more other companies in the holding’s portfolio. The most likely scenario, observers say, would be to integrate all the plastic companies, including BM Biraghi (www.bmbiraghi.it) and Oima (www.oima.it), currently positioned as independent brands under Negri Bossi’s management, into a new Sacmi Plastics unit.

Overall, Sacmi’s targets for the machinery maker’s restructuring are indeed ambitious. Its aim will be to narrow the product range, while technically reconfiguring the machines and at the same time reducing inventories. Another goal is to eliminate overlaps in the product portfolios of the companies operating within the Sacmi Group.