Encirc will now operate as Vidrala UK and Ireland, aligning the glass container manufacturer with its Spanish parent while continuing glass container design, manufacturing, bottling and logistics for UK and Irish food and drink customers, a rebrand that shows how group integration is reaching customers.

The integrated offer includes access to one of Europe’s largest bonded warehouses, which the company says shortens the supply chain and delivers cost and environmental savings to customers.

Encirc, now Vidrala UK and Ireland, operates from three purpose-built sites in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh, Elton, Cheshire, and Bristol, which will now trade as Vidrala Bristol, employs almost 2,000 people and produces around three billion glass bottles and containers a year.

Sean Murphy, managing director of Vidrala UK and Ireland, said: “Together, we are stronger.” He said the new name strengthens the company’s confidence and long-term vision as it manufactures and serves customers in the most modern, competitive and sustainable way possible, and that it believes in the UK and Ireland and is here to stay, invest and grow.

Vidrala, headquartered in Llodio, Spain, is a glass container group that makes 10 billion containers a year with 55 per cent recycled content in its raw materials; the UK and Ireland business contributed about a third of group sales and a quarter of EBITDA in the first half of 2026.

The rebrand reflects a Spanish group integrating an acquired UK business more fully, with first-half 2026 group revenue of €754m and EBITDA of €225.5m, according to Vidrala’s results.

The UK and Ireland business matters to the group’s results, representing about a third of sales but only a quarter of EBITDA in the first half, against South America’s 19 per cent of sales and 23 per cent of EBITDA.

For the sector, the margin gap helps explain the emphasis on integrated bottling, logistics and bonded warehousing, which seeks to capture value beyond bottle making alone.

The wider signal for the sector is that glass manufacturers are consolidating regional identities under group brands while investing, as Vidrala’s 2026 Chilean acquisition and the planned hydrogen-powered furnace at Elton show.

Source: Glass International / Packaging News / Investing.com