Struggling Anchor Glass retains electric discount for N.Y. plant

Date: 2 August 2005
Source: Sptimes.com

Date: 2 August 2005

Anchor Glass Container Corp. may be in crisis, but the Tampa bottlemaker recently extinguished a financial fire at its largest manufacturing plant.

For years, Anchor's 912,000-square-foot factory in Elmira Heights, N.Y., has obtained discounted electricity through a state government program designed to preserve jobs. But certain changes in the economic development program threatened to sever Anchor's cheap power as of Dec. 31.

"Receiving this power gave us the opportunity to be competitive in . . . a high-volume, low-margin industry," plant general manager Michael Sopp said in a January letter to New York State Sen. George Winner. "If we are not able to re-issue our (energy) contract, we will jeopardize the future of the Elmira plant."

The factory, one of eight Anchor facilities across seven states, employs roughly 400 people and makes more than 2-million beer, soda and other bottles a day. According to Winner, the energy discount saves the company about $1.4-million a year.

Fortunately for Anchor and about 70 other businesses whose subsidy was threatened, corporate welfare is alive and well in New York. Last month, state lawmakers approved a bill to temporarily extend the discount. It has since been forwarded to the governor for signature.

"That plant has been in this community for many, many years, so it would be a real blow to the area to lose," said Winner, who co-sponsored the legislation.

Unfortunately, it may take more than this victory to save Anchor from a third visit to bankruptcy court. The company recently disclosed that it expects to fall out of compliance with two lines of credit and may be unable to make an Aug. 15 interest payment on its long-term bonds.

600450 Struggling Anchor Glass retains electric discount for N.Y. plant glassonweb.com

See more news about:

Others also read

Emirates Glass, a Dubai Investment subsidiary, has won a major contract to supply 140,000 square meters of its premium glass to the prestigious development on the Palm Jumeirah, reaffirming its already established reputation as the single most prominent company in the entire regional glass industry.The deal was announced during the company's participation in the prestigious Big 5 show, the largest annual venue for the entire Middle-East glass contracting industry.
Packagers such as the UK's Rexam and private equity firms are set to vie for pump-sprayer business Calmar, which France's Saint-Gobain (SGOB.
Isra Vision Systems AG supplier of machine vision systems, has successfully improved its market position in display glass inspection with a major order totalling 1.8 Mio Euro.
The National Lime & Stone Co. will discontinue production of calcined lime early next month at its Carey plant, the company CEO announced Thursday.
Jain Scientific Glass Works, manufacturers of glassware for laboratories, is importing glass as raw material from China, which was much cheaper than the local product and abundantly available.
The following stocks are moving in Japanese markets today. Prices are as of 12:55 p.m. at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names.

Add new comment