Frankfurt, Packaging technology company KHS Maschinen- und Anlagenbau AG may make acquisitions in the next few months to expand its non-beverage packaging operations, Die Welt newspaper said in a report to be published tomorrow, citing chief executive Valentin Reisgen.

'We know that nobody will wait for us in that (non-beverage packaging) market,' Reisgen told the newspaper. 'But we have the know-how to position ourselves there successfully.'

He said the company is especially interested in expanding in growth markets of Asia and Eastern Europe.

KHS, which is a unit of WCM Beteiligungs- und Grundbesitz-AG's Kloeckner-Werke AG, currently posts 92 pct of its sales in the beverage filling and packaging technology division.

Reisgen said he expects the company, which is Germany's third-largest filling and packaging technology firm, behind Krones AG and Sidell AG, to post 710 mln eur sales this year, up 4 pct from 2004, while net profit will be below 10 mln eur.

'We are not satisfied with these results,' he said, adding the company is aiming to boost full year sales to 1 bln eur by 2010.

Source