Mergers and growth: What's new in our film and sheet ranking

This week Plastics News publishes its annual ranking of North American Film and Sheet Manufacturers. Let's take a peek at the numbers behind the chart.

There are 177 firms ranked this year with sales of $34.4 billion. The average 2015 sales per company is $194.5 million, a 0.2 percent increase. That is good news considering prices for the major resins declined an average of 12 percent.

Film sales were $27.7 billion up 3.7 percent. The average sales per film company is $230.2 million, up 4 percent, more from consolidation than from volume growth.

In sheet sales its 9 percent average growth for those firms reporting increases.

There is a newcomer to the Top 10 this year, packaging firm Novolex pops in at No. 7 with its acquisitions of Heritage Bag Co. and Wisconsin Film & Bag Inc. In all 13 acquisitions were footnoted in this year's ranking.

Industry consolidation has always been hot in the film and sheet business, the current big news are the pending deals of Berry Plastics Group Inc. acquiring AEP Industries Inc. and the merger of DuPont Co. and Dow Chemical Co.

Inteplast Group has a history of being active in acquisitions, although its subsidiaries are ranked independently. If they were combined, they would occupy the top spot with North American film and sheet sales of $3.053 billion.

Welcome to the ranking:

Altopro SA de CV, a BOPP film maker in Mexico City.

Flexstar Packaging Inc., a custom printed, laminated, flexible roll-stock and specialty films maker in Richmond, British Columbia.

Laddawn Manufacturing, a bag maker, in Devens, Mass.

Minigrip de Mexico SA de CV a bag maker in Mexico City.

Shadow Plastics Inc. a film and bag maker in Rice Lake, Wis.

Here are the top movers: these firms have moved up the most positions in the ranking:

Roplast Industries Inc. of Oroville, Calif., moved up 15 spaces to rank at No. 98.

Pregis LLC of Deerfield, Ill., moved up 13 spaces to rank at No. 20.

Aluf Plastics Inc. of Orangeburg, N.Y., moved up nine spaces to rank at No. 52.

Tex-Trude LP of Channelview, Texas, moved up nine spaces to rank at No. 80.

Profile Films of Grand Rapids, Mich., moved up eight spaces to rank at No. 100.

ProAmpac of Cincinnati, Ohio, moved up eight spaces to rank at No. 12.

Glenroy Inc. of Menomonee Falls, Wis., moved up eight spaces to rank at No. 86.

Colormasters LLC of Albertville, Ala., moved up seven spaces to rank at No. 69.

Charter NEX Films Inc. of Milton, Wis., moved up seven spaces to rank at No. 22.

Petoskey Plastics Inc. of Petoskey, Mich., moved up seven spaces to rank at No. 52.

Be sure to check out the full report in the Sept. 19, 2016, print issue of Plastics News. You can find the complete listings online at www.plasticsnews.com/rankings/film-sheet.

This ranking and all the plastics news rankings & lists can be purchased in our data store at www.plasticsnews.com/section/store

If you work for a company that is missing from the ranking, we would like to include you next time. Just send a note to Hollee Keller at [email protected] or mail your information to Plastics News, P.O. Box 790, Tallmadge, Ohio 44278.

Thanks to Hollee Keller, for this peek behind the rankings data. Follow her on Twitter @holleekeller.