The packaging group ILP has, as expected, plunged into losses for the first half of the year, but expects a recovery in the current half-year, with all of the company's operations in profit. No interim dividend is being paid.

Losses for the first half were £210,000 compared with a half-year profit of £410,000 in the same period last year. Turnover was marginally higher on £6.67 million.

The losses resulted from a delay in the completion of the group's new plant at Leixlip, Co Kildare and the subsequent delayed transfer of operations from Bray, Co Wicklow. This coincided with a lull in the rate of growth in the electronics market in Europe, to which ILP sells much of its product.