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Beverage Packaging Holdings Group (BPHG), the Luxembourg-based owner of SIG Combibloc that is part of Graeme Hart's Rank packaging empire, has said it expects to spend more than £24m on restructuring in 2009 and that carton sales are slowing in Europe.

In third-quarter results published this week, BPHG revealed that in the first nine months of 2009 it spent EUR 22.6m (£20.6m) on restructuring, including EUR 14.8m on redundancy costs and €7.8m on consultancy fees. It said that it expected to spend a further EUR 4m by the end of the year.

No specific details were released on how BPHG had restructured, although it said that staff reductions, consolidation of facilities, streamlining of R&D and the rationalisation of certain product lines were all part of the programme.

This year's restructuring has also already eclipsed the EUR 9.6m spent in 2008, suggesting an acceleration of the group's programme to reduce costs.

In a statement that revealed a slight increase in sales for the first nine months of the year, BPHG said that its current cost focus was on raw material costs and improving the combined group's management structure.

Turnover at BPHG stood at EUR 930.2m for the first nine months of 2009, a 1% year-on-year increase, while the group posted a pre-tax profit of EUR 1.4m compared to a EUR 42.9m loss a year earlier. EBITDA rose 21% to EUR 223.3m.

The group, which sells both machinery and carton sleeves, said that sleeve sales in Europe had declined 5% in the period to EUR 583.5m. It blamed the decrease on the recession which had led to declines in juice-sector sales in Russia and Poland and on the replacement of cartons by PET in Germany. However, sales in southern Europe were up 1%.

Sales growth of 20% outside Europe, however, drove the overall increase. While part of the improvement was due to exchange rates, BPHG said that sleeve sales in China were up 11.4%, while North American sales grew 20.6%. South America also showed major expansion, with sales increasing by 40.2%.

This week's results come six weeks after New Zealand-based Rank Group revealed a $3bn ownership rejig of two of its multinational businesses, Closure Systems International and Reynold Consumer Products.

BPHG was not available for further comment this morning.

BEVERAGE PACKAGING HOLDINGS GROUP THIRD-QUARTER RESULTS 2009
Nine months to 30 September 2009, EURm

Turnover 930.2 (2008: 919.3)
Operating profit 89.9 (57.0)
Pre-tax profit 1.4 (42.9 loss)
EBITDA 223.3 (184.2)

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