Moody's affirmed its B2 rating for Ardagh Glass on 2 April 2009, but said that the company could be hit by a potential slowdown in demand for its products. Ardagh, controlled by Dublin financier Paul Coulson, is one of Europe's largest glass container manufacturers, with about an 18% share of the market. Moody's said that the unchanged rating for Ardagh reflects the company's 'solid' 2008 financial results. However, the outlook for the rating was lowered to 'stable' from 'positive', expecting the demand for Ardagh's products to be impacted as a result of the current economic climate. Moody's added that Ardagh's B2 rating "remains constrained" by a still weak financial profile characterised by high leverage. Ardagh reported revenues of EUR 1.36BN in 2008 & employs almost 7,000 people. The company has already made moves to scale back production in response to decreasing demand.
