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Smurfit Kappa Group PLC on Wednesday said it ‘delivered an excellent outcome’ and was set for long-term growth in the first half year despite earnings, revenue and profit all decreasing. The Dublin-headquartered paper-based packaging manufacturer said its pretax profit for the first half of 2023 decreased 14% to €659 million from €769 million the year before. Revenue meanwhile decreased 9% to €5.84 billion from €6.39 billion. ‘Although volumes declined by 6% in the first half, we saw market share gains across many of the countries in which we operate, and encouragingly, in Europe, during the second quarter, we saw our shipments per day improve on the previous three quarters,’ said Chief Executive Officer Tony Smurfit. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation decreased 5.1% to €1.11 billion from €1.17 billion, although the Ebitda margin increased to 19.1% from 18.4%. Basic earnings per share meanwhile decreased 17% to 184.0 cents from 221.9 cents. Smurfit Kappa however said the results were achieved despite a difficult macroeconomic climate and against strong comparators in 2022. It said this demonstrated its strong business model, ‘the innovative and value-adding solutions we provide to our resilient customer base, the benefits of our capital spend programme and... [our] culture of innovation and operational excellence.’ CEO Smurfit added: ‘We are pleased to deliver an excellent outcome against a challenging macro backdrop with a strong first half performance. In a declining volume environment this reflects both the quality and resilience of SKG‘s integrated and geographically balanced business model...As a result, SKG is the packaging partner of choice for the world’s leading companies. ‘Our team continues to excel in supplying market-leading, innovative and sustainable packaging best reflected, within the period, by market share gains across many of the countries in which we operate.’ Additionally, Smurfit Kappa declared a 33.5 cents per share interim dividend, up 6% from 31.6 cents last year. Going forward, Tony Smurfit said: ‘The steps we have taken and continue to take, have positioned SKG for long-term growth...[and] our balance sheet continues to provide long-term strategic and financial flexibility. ‘While the global macro backdrop continues to be uncertain, there are some encouraging signs of improvement and we are confident about our future prospects. Smurfit Kappa has never been in better shape strategically, operationally and financially.’ Shares in Smurfit Kappa were down 1.4% at 3,018.00 pence in London on Friday. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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