June 23 (SeeNews) - Portuguese glass packaging manufacturer BA Glass Group will invest almost 60 million euro ($71.7 million) in upgrading its plant in Sofia, the company said on Wednesday.
BA Glass plans to build a new glass packaging furnace at the plant, streamlining production processes and raising output, it said in a statement.
The company will also install rooftop photovoltaic panels at the plant, it added.
BA Glass also said it plans to hire a further 100 employees in its Sofia plant due to increased production.
The investment is part of the company's strategy announced in 2017 to invest over 200 million euro in its Bulgarian plants, aiming to double their production capacity, boost efficiency, and improve the quality of its products.
BA Glass operates two plants in Bulgaria - in Sofia and Plovdiv.
In 2019, BA Glass invested over 50 million еuro in several projects at its Plovdiv plant, including the replacement of the old furnace with a new one.
BA Glass acquired Bulgaria's Drujba Glassworks from Greek glassmaker Yioula in 2017. Drujba Glassworks was subsequently renamed to BA Glass Bulgaria and delisted from the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.
According to data from the website of the commercial register, BA Glass Bulgaria is 100%-owned by Netherlands-based Glasstank B.V.
Glasstank B.V. is a fully-owned subsidiary of BA Glass B.V., according to data on the company's website.
BA Glass Bulgaria recorded a net profit of 79.7 million levs in 2019, up from a net profit of 37.3 million levs the year before as its sales revenue jumped to over 1.1 billion levs from 246.6 million levs. BA Glass Bulgaria generated most of its revenue from sales abroad - in Greece, Romania, the UK and other countries, the company's most recent financial report showed.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)
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