DEERFIELD, ILL. - Premark International Inc. of Deerfield plans to spin off its giant housewares subsidiary Tupperware into a separate company. Tupperware's only U.S. plant is in Hemingway, S.C., where it operates more than 100 injection presses molding its kitchen containers. Premark spokeswoman Christine Hanneman said Tupperware, based in Kissimmee, Fla., also has molding plants in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Korea, Philippines, France, Belgium, Greece and Portugal.
Tupperware had sales of $973 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, mainly outside the United States. Operating profit for the period was $134 million.
Premark said in a Nov. 1 news release that it will distribute Tupperware stock to Premark shareholders to create value for shareholders. The direct-sale housewares business will be called Tupperware Corp. and will be based in Orlando, Fla. Premark expects to distribute the new stock by mid-1996. Warren Batts will continue as chairman of Premark and will become chairman and chief executive officer of Tupperware Corp.
Mobil selling its resin distribution firm
NORWALK, CONN. - Mobil Chemical Co. is continuing to retreat from its noncore businesses, announcing Nov. 2 that it will sell its H. Muehlstein & Co. Inc. resin distribution arm to its employee managers.
The final sales price will be about $130 million, essentially equal to the working capital invested in the business, according to Mobil Corp., Mobil Chemical's parent firm in Fairfax, Va.
Muehlstein, based in Norwalk, distributes resins and synthetic rubber from dozens of suppliers, including Mobil, which will continue to be a Muehlstein supplier. In 1995, Muehlstein, its affiliates and subsidiaries expect to market more than 2 billion pounds of products to more than 4,000 customers.
Muehlstein was founded in 1911, acquired by Mobil in 1980 and had operated as a stand-alone business. The sale is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
The sale continues a trend for Mobil. On Oct. 2, the firm agreed to sell its Plastics Division, which includes manufacturing of trash bags, tableware, food packaging and food storage bags, to Tenneco Inc. of Houston for $1.27 billion.
ITC supports Marley's dumping charge
WASHINGTON - An International Trade Commission panel voted Oct. 23 to support a U.S. firm's dumping complaint against D&J Simons Ltd. of London, a manufacturer of extruded foam picture frames.
Marley Mouldings Inc. of Marion, Va., filed petitions Sept. 8 with the ITC and the Department of Commerce contending the $1.6 billion domestic market for mass-marketed plastic picture frames may be threatened by lower-cost or subsidized foreign goods.
The ITC panel vote will trigger an investigation by the Department of Commerce of the margin of difference between how the foreign product is priced in its home market compared to the price charged in the United States. The Commerce Department must make a final determination within 210 days of the October ruling. Officials of Marley and Simons testified in a special ITC meeting on Sept. 29. The firms produce about 80 percent of the PVC and polystyrene foam extruded frame stock sold in the United States.
Formula Plastics opens Mexican Plant
SAN DIEGO - Alex Mora, founder and president of Formula Plastics Inc., has established a Mexican company, Moldeo de Pl sticos, to reach previously inaccessible segments of the Mexican market in telecommunications and consumer products such as housewares.
Lack of space at Formula Plastics' adjacent maquiladora plant prompted the company's formation in Tecate, Mexico.
Moldeo de Plasticos depended on talent at the maquiladora to set up five Reed injection molding presses with clamping forces of 100-550 tons. Moldeo de Pl sticos expects to hire 60 employees, construct a 15,000-square-foot building and be self-contained by early 1996.
The maquiladora, Polimeros Formula de Tecate SA de CV, employs 200, operates 25 machines with clamping forces of 40-550 tons and, at 45,000 square feet, is running out of room.
``We have no more space to grow,'' Mora said at the Mexport trade show, held Oct. 27 in San Diego.
