Ropak Says It More Than Doubled Earnings

FULLERTON —  Ropak Corp. said Tuesday that, after cutting operating costs and launching a program to attract new customers nationally, it more than doubled its earnings in the second quarter.

The designer and manufacturer of plastic containers posted a second-quarter profit of $1.59 million, or 37 cents a share. That was up 132% from $685,000, or 16 cents a share, in the same period last year. Sales for the quarter rose moderately to $29.1 million, up 5% from $27.8 million a year earlier.

For the first six months of the year, profit jumped 314% to $2.04 million, or 48 cents a share, from $491,000, or 12 cents a share, a year earlier. Sales climbed less than 1% to $50.6 million from $50.5 million.

Ropak, based in Fullerton, attributed its improved performance to its specialty product lines for the food industry and its elimination of non-producing assets. That included the sale of its marketing rights to a test kit that replaces animal tissue in studies of product toxicity and the sale of its Tokyo and Paris subsidiaries.

In addition, larger-than-expected harvests of strawberries and raspberries this year nationwide have substantially increased orders for its plastic containers from fruit packers, said Ronald W. Cameron, Ropak’s chief financial officer. He added that the company has also successfully marketed its containers to the fishing industry in Alaska, Canada and Washington state.

During the first half of the year, Ropak eliminated $1 million in operating expenses, Cameron said.

In the next few months, Ropak will have to contend with a 1991 patent lawsuit filed by Perstorp Xytec Inc. of Tacoma, Wash. Last month, Perstorp won a preliminary injunction blocking Ropak from making a particular collapsible box. The box accounted for about 10% of Ropak’s $94 million in sales last year.

Ropak maintains that the box was based on an earlier, unpatented design. The case is expected to go to trial later this year.