HOUSTON - Gundle/SLT Environmental Inc., the high density polyethylene landfill liner manufacturer, lost $2.23 million in 1995 after swallowing a $15.3 million one-time charge when Gundle Environ-mental Systems Inc. created the company by purchasing SLT Environmental Inc. Without the nonrecurring charge, Gundle/SLT would have turned a profit of $7.85 million. Gundle earned $7.54 million in 1994. Most of the one-time charge resulted from the merger of the two Houston companies on July 27, product standardization, cost reduction and quality improvement. The company discontinued a compounding operation and plans to spend $1.5 million to upgrade its geonet production lines.
Another $400,000 in costs were related to the consolidation of SLT's production facilities and closing of SLT's Conroe, Texas, facility.
For the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, the combined company reported sales of $248.1 million, an 11 percent increase over $223.3 million the previous year.
Because of its large size, Gundle/SLT can buy HDPE resin at a lower price. The company said its annual manufacturing capacity is about 250 million pounds.
Gundle/SLT had 833 employees worldwide as of Dec. 31.