Barbosa & Almeida Investment For Marinha Grande Plant

Portuguese glass maker Barbosa & Almeida (BA), 49.97% owned by telecoms-to-retail conglomerate Sonae SGPS, will invest a total of EUR 60M in its Marinha Grande plant, it was reported on 6 February 2004. In December 2003 BA started reconstruction of a furnace in the Marinha Grande plant. The works are expected to end by the 1Q of 2004 and the cost of the whole operation is estimated at EUR 29M The rest of the investment will go on the construction of a new furnace in mid-2004. The investment project is being considered by the national investment agency (API). BA posted consolidated sales of EUR 182M for 2003, up 5.2%. At the end of 2002, the company had a workforce of 1,121 divided among four plants, two of which are in Spain.