HH Pegg hopes to increase the market share of its newly acquired Astralux brand by between 20% to 25% by the summer of 2001.
Following the Favini Groups acquisition of Astralux from Sappi Europe last month for an undisclosed sum, newly appointed UK agent HH Pegg hopes to return Astralux to its "former glory".
HH Pegg managing director Ray Williams said that while Astralux was still the market leader in terms of awareness, it had been neglected by Sappi following its decision to sell the cast coated paper two years ago.
Williams said: "Sappi was a sleeping dog. They didnt call on customers, they havent seen some of them for two years.
"We hope to win back a lot of business that has been lost. We will restore customer contact and re-establish reliability," he said.
Williams said HH Pegg had invested around 100,000 in the brand with the formation of a new division, HH Specialities; the appointment of two new sales people; and the formation of a UK storage facility.
He said although cast coated was a mature and perhaps declining market, there was still mileage, especially in the design community. He added that new pearl and opalescence finishes had been introduced and said products may have a two-year life span in the future.