Vertex renamed Alto

Plastics company Vertex Group has changed its name to Alto Holdings, after being taken over last year by Alto's major shareholder Masthead Equities.

After the takeover, Vertex's operations were integrated with Alto's, but until now had continued to operate under its old brand.

Alto's managing director, Mark Wheeler, said the decision to change Vertex's name to Alto was based around "bad press" Vertex received while it was a listed company. It took Masthead three months to gain control of Vertex in a battle that was played out in front of the press.

"We were always going to trade under one name once we had blended the two plastics businesses together and therefore Alto was the logical choice," Mr Wheeler said.

He said the integration process had gone well.

"The new entity has a single strategy, significantly increased capacity, supports future investment in larger output and more efficient plant and also offers customers the choice of a wider product range."

Mr Wheeler hinted that Alto was on the lookout for more acquisitions, saying further consolidation was needed within the New Zealand marketplace to create a company of scale to cope with increased competition.

"The merging of Alto and Vertex was the first stage of this journey and plans are afoot for further consolidation," he said.

Mr Wheeler said local manufacturers lacked scale in the global marketplace and sometimes struggled to be competitive.

"If we are not progressive in this regard, cheap imported goods will erode our manufacturing base," Mr Wheeler said.

- NZPA