Anchor Glass Container Corp, a Tampa glassmaker struggling with falling sales and rising production costs said it recently trimmed about 20% of its administrative positions, about 40 jobs, including some at its HQ. It also revealed a first-quarter loss three times as large as a year ago. In November Anchor said it would close its Connellsville, PA factory and cut about 300 jobs there. The firm announced it lost $127M, or 52 cents/share, in the quarter ended March 31. In comparison the company lost $4.3M, or 17 cents/share in the same quarter last year. Sales fell 5.4% from $186M a year ago to $179.3M for the most recent quarter. The loss was attributed to lower sales and higher costs for energy and raw materials. However, sales to liquor companies were up and recent contract changes allow the firm to pass along some higher natural gas costs to customers.
