Huhtamaki (Espoo / Finland; www.huhtamaki.com) has issued its second profit warning for 2008. After revising its forecast downward in June to “below the 2007 underlying group EBIT of EUR 136m,” the Finnish packaging manufacturer says it now expects a return of only EUR 90m after taking restructuring and impairment charges of EUR 159m in the fourth quarter. It points to “soft market conditions as well as need to mark inventory values downwards as a result of sharply reduced raw material prices.”

Some 170 jobs will be eliminated in the 2009 first quarter as part of the realignment of the rigid plastic consumer goods business in Europe and the Asia-Pacific (Oceania) region. The business is to be carved out into a standalone company on 1 January 2009 (see Plasteurope.com of 03.09.2008). The move, which is targeted at saving EUR 8m in annual costs, will necessitate restructuring charges totalling EUR 13m in the fourth quarter. This includes the EUR 5m for the planned closure of a flexible films unit in the US – see Plasteurope.com of 13.11.2008.

At the end of December 2008, Huhtamaki’s Hämeenlinna / Finland-based Foodservice and Consumer Goods rigid packaging business will be transferred to two wholly owned subsidiaries. This, the company said, “will have no impact on employment terms of the employees transferred.” In August, it was suggested that 60 out of the 700 jobs could be eliminated in the move (see PIEWEb of 18.08.2008).