..A leading supplier of recycled packaging in Europe

With a turnover in 2011/12 of £2.0 billion and employing more than 20,000 people, DS Smith Plc is an international supplier of recycled packaging for consumer goods.

On 30 June 2012 DS Smith acquired SCA Packaging. On a combined basis, the group is now the second largest manufacturer of corrugated products in Europe. We are also a leading worldwide supplier of bag-in-box packaging and a leading European supplier of plastic returnable transit packaging. The combined Group now has revenues of approximately £4 billion (based on a combination of historically reported figures and a 12 month contribution from both businesses).

DS Smith is a FTSE 250 company listed on the London Stock Exchange and headquartered in Maidenhead.

http://www.dssmith.com/

Results of Placing
RNS
RNS Number : 6141J
Smith (DS) PLC
29 June 2017
 

RESULTS OF PLACING OF NEW ORDINARY SHARES
 
DS Smith Plc (DS Smith or the Company) is pleased to announce the successful completion of the underwritten placing of new ordinary shares of 10 pence each in the Company (the Placing), announced earlier today.
 
A total of 62,637,363 new ordinary shares of 10 pence each in the Company (the Placing Shares) have been placed by Citigroup Global Markets Limited (Citi) and JP. Morgan Securities plc (which conducts its UK investment banking business as J.P. Morgan Cazenove) (JPM) at a price of 455 pence per Placing Share (the Placing Price), raising total proceeds of approximately £285 million (before commissions and expenses) (the Gross Proceeds) for the Company. The Placing Shares being issued represent approximately 6.6 per cent. of the Company's existing issued ordinary share capital immediately before the Placing.
 
The Placing Price represents a premium of 2.5 per cent. to the closing price on 28 June 2017.
 
The Placing Shares, when issued, will be credited as fully paid and will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares of 10 pence each in the capital of the Company, including the right to receive all dividends and other distributions declared, made or paid on or in respect of such shares after the date of issue.
 
Applications have been made to the Financial Conduct Authority (the FCA) for the Placing Shares to be admitted to the premium listing segment of the Official List of the FCA (the Official List) and to the London Stock Exchange plc (the London Stock Exchange) for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange (together, Admission). It is expected that settlement of the Placing Shares and Admission will take place at 8.00 a.m. on 3 July 2017. Settlement of the Placing is conditional upon, among other things, Admission becoming effective and the Placing Agreement not being terminated in accordance with its terms.
 
Following Admission the total number of shares in issue in the Company will be 1,014,426,719.
 

29 Jun
Peel Hunt
520.00
Buy
29 Jun
Citigroup
498.00
Buy

Broker Forecast - Jefferies International issues a broker note on Smith (DS) PLC
BFN
Jefferies International today reaffirms its hold investment rating on Smith (DS) PLC (LON:SMDS) and raised its price target to 475p (from 460p).

Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Dream I think you're a Fund Manager , who brings his work home with him .

I wish. lol

14:30 18/07/2017
Broker Forecast - Numis issues a broker note on Smith (DS) PLC
Numis today downgrades its investment rating on Smith (DS) PLC (LON:SMDS) to hold (from add) and raised its price target to 520p (from 495p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Acquisition

dreamcatcher help me out on this one... numis downgrade from add to hold and raises target to 520 p instead of 495 p.....????????????/

Simple I think, hold your holding, possibly rising to 520p. ?

5 Sep
Peel Hunt
550.00
Add

Anyone subscribing to the MoneyAM Level 2 platform please take note that most days it is not reporting the correct Trade High nor Trade Low information and "some days" not reporting the correct Opening Price or Closing Price.

The reason is because MoneyAM's Level 2 system is not correctly sensing the Auto Trades or Ordinary Trades correctly so is wrongly reporting them

12:20 12/09/2017
Broker Forecast - Goldman Sachs issues a broker note on Smith (DS) PLC
Goldman Sachs today reaffirms its neutral investment rating on Smith (DS) PLC (LON:SMDS) and raised its price target to 500p (from 485p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Ex divi 5 Oct 10.6p payable 1 Nov

With a reshuffle round, DS Smith could enter the FTSE 100 next week.

09:50 27/11/2017
Broker Forecast - Jefferies International issues a broker note on Smith (DS) PLC
Jefferies International today reaffirms its hold investment rating on Smith (DS) PLC (LON:SMDS) and raised its price target to 530p (from 475p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Trading statement DS Smith Thursday 7 Dec 17

Proactive investor - Thursday 7 DEC

It has been a stellar year for DS Smith, topped off by its promotion to the FTSE 100, which was confirmed last Wednesday.
Investors will be hoping this recent momentum continues in its half year results, due on Thursday, with the signs looking good in October’s pre-close update, although the mid cap firm didn’t give much away in.
However, all of this, along with a recent broker upgrade, has raised expectations which may be hard to beat, according to Graham Spooner, investment research analyst at The Share Centre.
He said there will also be interest in how the group’s recent US acquisition, Interstate Resources is performing.

Half year results

Highlights
·     Strong organic volume growth(2) of 5.2%
o  All regions in growth
o  E-commerce and pan-European strength
·     In-line performance, delivering against all financial KPIs
·     Recovery of paper price increase progressing as expected
·     Excellent start from Interstate, our first fibre-based US business
o  Integration ahead of expectations with positive employee and customer reaction
o  Benefits of global supply chain validated and being delivered
o  Annualised pre-tax cost synergy target raised to $30 million
·     Continuing to grow the business organically and inorganically
o  Proposed €208 million acquisition of Ecopack and Ecopaper in Romania (completion expected January 2018)
o  Packaging capacity investment programme for Europe and US

Sharecast -t a note on packaging and paper.



Goldman said it likes Smurfit in the packaging space, along with Mondi, which had been trading up earlier. The bank said it expects Smurfit and Mondi to benefit from already achieved price increases throughout 2017 and continuous solid demand.
"Smurfit Kappa Group and DS Smith, two of the biggest box producers in Europe are targeting box prices after rising input costs through 2017 caused margin contraction. At 4Q results, Smurfit highlighted it had achieved a 5% box price increase and remained confident in achieving the 6%-8% it guided for earlier in 2017.
"DS Smith is targeting an 8%-10% increase and had achieved around 3.5% at 1H18 results and price increases are progressing in line with expectations. We expect the recovery to continue in 1H18 and drive a margin expansion in 2018 as producers benefit from already achieved box prices and get additional gains in 1H18 contract negotiations."

Q3 Trading Statement
RNS
RNS Number : 8976G
Smith (DS) PLC
07 March 2018

7 March 2018

DS Smith Plc - Q3 trading statement

DS Smith Plc ("DS Smith"), today issues a trading update in respect of the period since 1 November 2017.

Trading update
We are pleased with the good progress of the business in the period, reflecting the increasing relevance of sustainable packaging and our compelling customer offering.

Box volume growth has remained strong, continuing the positive trend seen in the first half of the year, reflecting on-going good progress with our multi-national and e-commerce customers. Growth was delivered across all our geographies, with our expertise in e-commerce, combined with a strong Christmas trading period for online retail sales, contributing to our continued market share gains.

Integration of our North America business is going very well. The business continues to perform ahead of our initial expectations, with packaging volume growth significantly ahead of the Group average rate and improved paper productivity.

The recovery of recent increases in paper prices is progressing well, as expected. This, together with operational leverage coming from the strong top-line growth, means that return on sales is expected to increase in this H2 period as compared to H1, and the full year return on sales is expected to be in line with that for the prior year, with trading overall in line with our expectations.

Completion of acquisition of Ecopack and Ecopaper in Romania
DS Smith completed the acquisition of Ecopack and Ecopaper, a leading integrated packaging and paper group in Romania, on 6 March 2018. The acquisition will significantly enhance our capacity to serve customers in this high growth region as well as supporting our wider substantial Eastern European presence. The acquisition, for an enterprise value of c. €208 million, is expected to be earnings enhancing immediately and is consistent with the Group's medium term financial targets.

Miles Roberts, Group Chief Executive, said:
"I am very pleased with how our strategy is delivering for customers and producing strong results. We continue to gain market share by delivering packaging that adds value for our customers, as they look to improve the efficiency of their own operations. The excellent reaction from US customers reflects the differentiated offer we bring, including our expertise in retail ready packaging and e-commerce. At the same time, the benefit of a global supply platform for paper and fibre is being seen in the improved operational efficiency of our US assets and greater co-ordination across the Group.

We are excited by the structural drivers supporting the growth of sustainable packaging and the opportunities for DS Smith. Our outlook therefore is positive and we remain confident in the future."