Preferred Plastic Sheet of Greenville, Ohio, plans to expand its geographical reach farther west and diversify into ABS durable goods markets by acquiring Plains Plastics Inc., a custom sheet and profile extruder in McPherson, Kan. Plains runs five sheet lines and nine profile lines in McPherson and has annual sales of about $20 million, most of which is sheet. Company officials would not disclose terms of the deal, which they expect to complete by the end of the year.
PPS had sales of more than $72 million for its year ended Aug. 31, said Bill Augustine, the firm's president. It has a total of 20 sheet lines at Greenville, Taylorville, Ill., and Greensboro, Ga., mainly producing high density polyethylene sheet. It also extrudes high-impact polystyrene and vinyl sheet.
Augustine said Plains laminating capabilities also would be a new technology for his firm.
Augustine said that within the next two months PPS will expand Greenville by adding a new large sheet line. He did not disclose the cost. PPS has no plan to make changes at Plains, according to Augustine.
Echlin Inc. bought PPS late last year as part of Preferred Technical Group Inc. Echlin, a public company based in Branford, Conn., has annual sales of more than $2 billion, mainly in automotive repair parts.
