Hungarian building materials company Masterplast expects a Ft 1.15-billion plant it is building at a greenfield site in Subotica, Serbia, to start operating in October, the company told MTI. Masterplast is paying for the plant, which will make insulating expanded polystyrene (EPS) boards, with its own resources and bank loans, Masterplast spokeswoman Éva Bíró told MTI. The 6,500-square-metre plant will have capacity to produce 500,000 square meters of EPS boards a year. It will employ a staff of twelve at the start. Masterplast expects rising energy prices and stricter energy efficiency requirements soon to be introduced for buildings to increase demand for the plant's product. The plant's output will be sold mainly in Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania and Serbia, said CEO Balázs Ács. Masterplast, established in 1997, has units in 17 countries in the region. It has a global staff of 700. Masterplast had after-tax profit of €6 million on revenue of about €100 million in 2007, up from profit of €5 million on revenue of more than €75 million in 2006.