Leading UK PE film producer British Polythene Industries (BPI, Greenock / Scotland; www.bpipoly.com) is anticipating a good result for the first half of the year based on unaudited figures for the first four months of 2013. In a recently released interim management statement, the company said that trading conditions have continued to be challenging and unseasonably cool weather has delayed demand in some sectors.

Year-on-year, overall volumes were slightly behind after four months but BPI anticipates some recovery from delayed orders for agricultural film. It added that the rather chilly spring led to farmers getting good use from last year’s silage and anticipates robust demand for silage stretch-wrap in 2013. Sales of the product are already ahead of 2012.

At the end of April, BPI completed its acquisition of British PE film extruder Flexfilm (Winsford; www.flexfilm.co.uk) for GBP 5.5m (EUR 6.5m). Flexfilm supplies mainly to food markets, with a subsidiary, Jordan Plastics, (www.jordanplastics.com) located in Portadown, Northern Ireland, supplying printed film and bags, primarily to Ireland's food industry. Flexfilm’s sales were GBP 13.4m in 2012 and EBITDA, adjusted to exclude non-recurring costs, was GBP 1.3m.

Raw material prices increased at the beginning of the year, but have slipped in the last few weeks, BPI said. The company expects prices will continue to erode over the next few months, following the current downward trend in naphtha and ethylene input costs. The company said that it anticipates a further satisfactory year in 2013.