James Cropper to invest in new US factory
PAPER manufacturer James Cropper is to invest $3m in a new factory in the US to help it meet rising demand.
The Cumbrian company said the new facility in Rotterdam, New York State, should help it to generate “significant long-term revenues”. But it added in a trading update that profits are expected to be hit by weaker sales in the UK and Europe in two of its divisions.
Its subsidiary Technical Fibre Products has taken a 10-year lease on a 50,000sq ft facility where it will consolidate all of its US activities into one site.
Cropper said its current two US factories do not have the capacity or capability to meet the expected growing demand in a number of customer programmes in the aerospace, defence and electronic sectors.
Technical Fibre Products supplies specialist metal-coated fibres and non-woven material to the aerospace, electronics and defence industries. It accounts for the largest proportion of group sales.
In a trading update, the Kendal-based group said £500,000 relating to the US project would be expensed against profit in the current financial year.
Although sales volumes in the UK and Europe have fallen in the company’s Speciality Papers and Converting businesses, the group said its profits would be in line with last year’s result of £3.4m.
