UCP hit as spirit sector suffers during slump

UNITED Closures and Plastics (UCP), the Bridge of Allan-based bottle-top maker, reported a 5 per cent slide in turnover as the global economic slump took its toll on the spirits industry.

Accounts filed at Companies House showed that revenues fell from 81 million in 2008 to 77m last year.

The fall in business had a knock-on effect for pre-tax profits, which plummeted by 58 per cent to 1.9m.

But UCP said the spirits market was the only part of the business to have "suffered significantly" during the global downturn and had picked up in the early part of this year as confidence returned to the market.

The directors said: "The company continued to make progress with product development and benefited from a reduction in raw material costs."

UCP spent 1.2m on research and development work during 2009, compared with 1.3m in the previous year.

The company expects raw material prices for their plastic enclosures to increase this year before falling in 2011.

In contrast, energy prices are forecast to reduce this year and then increase next year.

The number of manufacturing workers employed by the company rose from 445 to 452, while the number of office staff and managers fell from 92 to 71.

UCP, which is owned by Global Closure Systems, makes bottle tops for the wine and soft drinks sectors, as well as the food, household and pharmaceutical industries.