Amcor Ltd will add a third glass furnace at its wine bottle plant at Gawler in S Australia. The new furnace will cost around AU$100M & be completed during the first half of 2010. On completion, the site will have 3 furnaces with an annual capacity of 600M wine bottles. Amcor said that consistent with the approach in building the first 2 furnaces, returns for the third furnace are supported by long-term customer supply arrangements. The investment is consistent with Amcor's strategy of focusing capital on nominal growth segments, which includes glass wine bottles in Australia. MD & CEO Ken MacKenzie said the wine industry in Australia continues to show solid growth & this means rising demand for wine bottles. "To meet this growth a new furnace needs to be constructed in Australia every 3-4y."
