Thrace Plastics Pack: New 25.5 million euro investment program

Thrace Plastics Co SA in the context of the accurate, valid and timely information of the investor community announces an extraordinary investment plan, which was approved by the Board of Directors. It should be noted that the Management, taking into consideration the broader market conditions as well as the strong cash position of the Group, decided the immediate implementation of the above extraordinary investment program, which is an incremental investment compared to the current investment plan of 2021, or any other additional investment plan potentially approved at a later time.

The new investment plan is oriented towards the Sustainable & Profitable Development of the Group, with a focus on the following strategic pillars: further reduction of production costs and boost of competitiveness, improvement of profit margins, vertical integration of production processes, with parallel emphasis on the circular economy and finally, further reduction of its environmental footprint.

The individual actions of the new investment plan that will be implemented at the Group’s facilities in Xanthi, Greece, are summarized as follows:

– investment in mechanical fiber production equipment: fiber is a basic raw material for the production of non-woven Needle Punch fabrics. Needle Punch fabrics aim at a variety of applications in the sectors of infrastructure and construction, agriculture, automotive, etc.

– investment in mechanical recycling equipment in order to increase the recycling capacity with regard to finished products or plastic waste, both from internal production and operating processes as well as from third party sources. This action is in line with the commitment of the Group calling on the one hand for the use of more recycled raw materials and on the other hand for further reducing the environmental footprint of its final products.

– investment concerning the installation and commissioning of photovoltaic systems to cover part of the energy needs of the Group’s production plant complex in the area of Xanthi, Greece (net metering), with a targeted power capacity of 1.5 MW, demonstrating its commitment towards sustainable development, in the context of achieving energy savings and for further reducing the environmental footprint.

– investment in infrastructure (land and buildings), which will create conditions that are conducive to efficiency gains of the production plants, but will also prepare the ground for future development of the business activity and profitability of the Group’s companies.

Moreover, under the above extraordinary investment plan, the following will take place at Don & Low’s facilities in Forfar, Scotland:

– investment in mechanical laminating equipment to increase production capacity with regard to the further processing of non-woven Spunbond fabrics, in order to achieve higher profit margins.

– investment in mechanical recycling equipment to increase the recycling capacity with regard to finished products or plastic waste, both from internal production and operating processes as well as from third party sources.

– investment in infrastructure (land and buildings), which will create conditions that are conducive to efficiency gains of the production plant, but will also facilitate the future development of the business activity and profitability of the company.

The new investments amount in total to € 25.5 million, of which € 21.4 million concern the investments that will be implemented in the production facilities of the Group in Xanthi, Greece and € 4.1 million concern the investments in the Group’s subsidiary in Scotland, all related to the Technical Fabrics sector. The financing of this new investment plan will be covered mainly with own funds.

Regarding the above new investment plan, the Group CEO, Mr. Dimitris Malamos stated: “After the successful completion of the investment program for the period 2015-2020, the Group’s highly satisfactory financial results in 2020 and the first quarter of 2021 and the gradual return in the traditional sales-wise product mix, the Management of the Group focuses on the next day and gradually enters a new era of growth, improvement of infrastructure and further expansion of its business activities. We are confident that the immediate investment actions approved by the Board of Directors will shield the Group’s competitiveness, contribute to the improvement of profit margins and lay the foundations for our next business activities, always in the context of a Profitable & Sustainable Development.”