Vidrala Starts Rebuild

Vidrala has begun the rebuild of one of the furnaces at its Corsico plant in Italy, which was acquired last year from O-I. In its business report for the first quarter of 2005, the glassmaker also says that productivity and efficiency have improved at its former Ricardo Gallo glass plant in Portugal; Vidrala now owns 99.9% of the shares in the Ricardo Gallo business. Group sales are up 30.5% compared with the first quarter of 2004, despite a slump in volumes in March blamed on the early Easter and the cold winter.