The board of injection moulder Rosti Technical Plastics (Farum / Denmark; www.rosti.com) and owner A. P. Møller - Mærsk (Copenhagen / Denmark; www.maersk.com) have agreed to ditch the plan to divest the RTP group of companies. Several potential buyers expressed interest, but none were able to offer a satisfactory price. Rosti A/S, the sole shareholder of RTP, has increased its share capital by DKK 100m (EUR 13.4m) “to support and strengthen the RTP group in the current financial turmoil.” Sales and operating profits at RTP increased year-on-year in 2008.

Rosti’s Chinese subsidiary Rosti Suzhou has said that it is expecting to benefit from the Chinese government’s stimulus package for the nation’s auto market. Rosti Suzhou supplies air intake manifolds used mainly on one litre engines and the government has lowered the purchase tax on cars under 1.6 litres from 10% to 5% until the end of 2009 in an effort to stimulate sales. “We expect to see a sharp increase in demand during the period March to May and may be even more during the vehicles high season,” said Karl Stillman, Rosti’s regional director of sales.

Rosti Technical Plastics India has opened a 28,000 ft² facility in Chennai and installed four moulding machines from Demag Plastics Group (Schwaig / Germany; www.dpg.com) in the 35t - 350t range. The subsidiary will focus initially on production for the business machines market. Rosti chief operating officer David Knight said that Rosti India will replicate the Chinese model very closely. “Rosti has learned valuable lessons in China that have helped get the business up and running quickly in India,” he said.