Packaging firm Smurfit Kappa has posted a 3% increase in revenue in the first nine months of the year, to €6.85 billion, with chief executive Tony Smurfit praising the group's "very strong performance" in the period.
The group posted EBITDA growth of 11% in the period, to €1.26 billion, while EBITDA margin was 18.3%, an increase of 140 basis points.
'This performance continues to demonstrate the strength and resilience of the Group’s business model,' the company said in a statement.
Europe Performance
In its Europe division, corrugated box volume growth rose by 4% year-on-year, and 2% on an organic basis, in the period, which Smurfit Kappa said was in line with expectations.
In the Americas, organic volume growth was approximately 2%, with continued EBITDA and EBITDA margin improvement year-on-year.
'Geographic Diversity'
“While there have been, and continue to be, obvious macro-economic and political challenges, SKG’s very strong performance against this backdrop shows, once again, the quality of our business and the benefits of our geographic diversity," Smurfit said.
"Consumers are increasingly demanding sustainable packaging solutions and with our unique applications, knowledge and expertise in paper-based packaging, we are ideally positioned to take advantage of this mega trend.”
Smurfit Kappa issued an eight-year, €750 million bond in September at a coupon of 1.5%, building on the €400 million add-on to a June 2018 bond earlier this year.
'This has resulted in both an extended maturity profile and a lower average interest rate for the Group,' it said.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
