Smurfit Kappa Group plc (LON:SKG) has announced a trading update for the 9 months to 30 September 2021.
First Nine Months Overview:
- Revenue growth year-on-year of 15% to €7,287 million
- EBITDA growth year-on-year of 10% to €1,235 million with a margin of 17%
- Third quarter EBITDA growth year-on-year of 16% to €454 million
- Issued €1 billion in bonds under our Green Finance Framework
Tony Smurfit, Group CEO, commented:
“I am pleased to report a strong first nine months for the Group with corrugated growth of 9% in Europe and 11% in the Americas versus 2020. Our integrated paper and corrugated system is effectively sold out and I am very proud of our people who are ensuring that customers, for the most part, are supplied securely and efficiently despite many supply chain disruptions. Materially higher input costs, principally, but not limited to, recovered fibre and energy are being progressively recovered through corrugated price increases.
“To meet growing customer demand, in the first nine months of the year, we approved approximately €600 million in projects across the Group. In our corrugated business, we have approved 48 new converting machines and six new corrugators across Europe and the Americas. I am delighted to report that we completed the acquisition of the Verzuolo mill in early October bringing 600,000 tonnes of paper into our integrated system. In addition, we also approved two major paper projects in Germany and Mexico, ensuring future security of supply to our over 65,000 customers. This continued investment will ensure that Smurfit Kappa remains best placed to satisfy our customers’ needs with the most innovative and sustainable packaging solutions.
“Reflecting our continuing focus on sustainability was the recent launch of our Green Finance Framework and issuance of green bonds of €500 million with a coupon of 0.5% and €500 million with a coupon of 1.0%, with 8 and 12 year maturities respectively. Setting up this framework is a further significant step in our sustainability strategy, embedding sustainability into our capital structure alongside our sustainability linked Revolving Credit Facility.
“Smurfit Kappa Group continues to deliver against all performance metrics with EBITDA for the nine months of €1,235 million and a margin of 17%. This shows the continuing strength of our integrated business model; the benefits of geographic diversity; and the quality and dedication of the SKG team. We expect to deliver significant EBITDA growth for the full year in line with current market expectations. With the many growth opportunities and the significant ongoing investment in our business, we are excited about our future prospects.”
