The company representatives announced the plan to shut down the Santarcangelo di Romagna (RN) plant on 31 December 2008 at a meeting with labor union and provincial council representatives held today at the Confindustria offices in Rimini.

The company reached this decision because the plant, which dates back to 1920, gradually ceased to be competitive during the last few years due to the rising cost of electricity, fuel, transport, spare parts and services.

Due to the lack of raw materials and the gradual expansion of the town towards the plant - factors which had long negatively impacted the productivity of the Santarcangelo unit - it became impossible to develop the plant.

Closing the plant will allow the company to maximize the production capacity in other plants which will cover the market currently served by Santarcangelo, and also reduce costs and capital expenditures by approximately 5 million euro per year on a permanent basis.

There are 64 employees at the Santarcangelo plant. The union representatives were notified that the sales organization will remain intact and some of the other employees will be reassigned to other plants owned by the group in Italy.

During the meeting with the union representatives the company stated that it would be available to continue discussions to determine together the most appropriate tools for providing support to the employees who would be made redundant, including providing full occupational replacement programs and a pledge to provide a better package than the social security cushion currently foreseen by the Italian law.