Speaking at Basque glass bottle and jar maker Vidrala's AGM yesterday, company chairman Carlos Delclaux announced plans to invest upwards of 120 million euros at Vidrala factories to the year 2011 in a drive to improve productivity.

Despite the deceleration affecting the economy, the firm maintained its sales forecasts for 2008, expecting 10 per cent or more growth in operating results.
Last year, Vidrala billed more than 350 million euros, up 15 per cent, with profits of 38 million, a 31 per cent increase over the previous year's figure.

Based in Llodio, in the province of Alava, the Vidrala group is currently enjoying widespread expansion. Working since 1965 on glass bottles and jars, the firm is expected to set a new production record by passing the one million-ton mark of glass, a figure consolidated by its ongoing internationalization process and the latest acquisition, in the shape of a factory in Belgium. Official company sources confirmed that Vidrala, which produces a wide range of products for the food and drink industry, would wrap up 2008 at its estimated maximum capacity of 1,125,000 tons of bottles a year.