City Briefs: Scapa; Coral Products; Enegi Oil
TECHNICAL tapes group Scapa said it has completed the merger of its defined benefit pension schemes.
The move was first announced in March in a bid to tackle its £54.8m pension deficit.
It has set up an asset-backed funding structure that will provide £3.75m cash to the pension fund each year, index linked and capped at 5%.
Today it said the merger has resulted in both an immediate reduction in the schemes’ liabilities, and a reduction in the future running costs of the schemes.
Finance director Paul Edwards said: “The merger of the UK defined benefit pension schemes continues the progress made to date in managing the group’s legacy pension deficit. Specifically the simplification into a single scheme will lower the administrative burden and reduce the group’s annual cash costs.”
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PACKAGING group Coral Products said it attracted new orders in January totalling £875,000.
The company’s food packaging subsidiary, Interpack has won four new contracts worth £725,000 for ice cream containers and salad boxes which will be made at the firm’s factory in Haydock, St Helens. which will further enhance margins achieved.
It has also won a £150,000 contract to supply Powys County Council with recycling containers.
Chairman Joe Grimmond said: “We are aggressively seeking new business opportunities whilst at the same time maintaining existing business that has growth potential through providing excellent service to our customers. It is highly gratifying that our efforts are bearing good results and we look forward to further success.”
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MANCHESTER-based Enegi Oil’s chief executive Alan Minty will give an upbeat statement later today at the company’s annual general meeting.
The firm is involved in oil and gas exploration projects in Canada, Ireland, Jordan and the North Sea.
Mr Minty will say: “The company made significant progress in 2013 and I am pleased that the momentum we built up has been carried over into 2014 and looks set to gather pace, particularly in relation to our marginal field initiative and our assets in western Newfoundland.
“The progress that we have seen in our marginal field initiative in such a short period of time has been fantastic. We are already involved with two large projects and, given the interest and discussions we have had to date, expect to make further announcements in time. We believe that we have the appropriate technologies, the partners and the business model to ensure that we will play a significant role in this arena and in shaping the future of the UKCS [UK Continental Shelf].
