LONDON (Dow Jones)--Niche plastics products maker Plastics Capital PLC (PLA.LN) Tuesday swung to a full-year pretax profit, boosted by a foreign exchange gain, and said its order books are stronger than at any other time in the last 18 months. The firm is starting to hire production staff again and said it also plans to invest in new machinery, stock, new products and further development of its Thai factory. While it said these investments will have a negative impact on profit and cash in the short term, they are expected to significantly benefit growth and profit in the longer run. Plastics Capital made a fiscal 2010 pretax profit of GBP1.8 million in the year ended March 31, compared with a GBP4.3 million loss a year earlier. The move back in to the black was in part driven by a foreign exchange gain on its derivatives and loans. In fiscal 2009 it paid out GBP3.5 million in foreign exchange losses. Plastics Capital said its fiscal 2010 result also benefited from a cost-cutting drive it began at the end of fiscal 2009. Both these measures offset a 5% fall in fiscal 2010 revenue to GBP26.7 million from GBP28.2 million a year earlier. -By Hannah Benjamin, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9298; hannah.benjamin@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 29, 2010 03:39 ET (07:39 GMT)