*Revenue growth of 11%
*EBITDA of €781 million with an EBITDA margin of 16.7%
*Corrugated growth of over 10% and over 9% versus 2020 and 2019 respectively
*Accelerating investment plans to meet customer needs and capitalise on growth
*Agreement to acquire 600,000 tonne recycled containerboard mill
*Strong and progressive corrugated price recovery offsetting significant input cost increases
*Interim dividend increased by 5% to 29.3 cent per share
Tony Smurfit, Group CEO, commented: “I am pleased to report a strong first half performance with revenue growth of 11%, EBITDA of €781 million and an EBITDA margin of 16.7%. Growth in corrugated was over 10% against the same period in 2020 and over 9% on 2019 and we continue to see strong demand for our core products.
“As a result of our past and current capital investments in our integrated business model, we have, for the most part, been able to fulfil our customers’ needs during this period of exceptionally strong demand. It has also been a period of significant input cost pressures which we have and will continue to recover through corrugated price increases.
“Against this backdrop our European business delivered a strong performance with EBITDA of €591 million and an EBITDA margin of 16.2%. Our Americas business equally delivered a strong performance with EBITDA of €211 million and an EBITDA margin of 20.4%. These performances reflect the benefits of our integrated business model, our investment programmes, strong market positions and our performance culture which has come to the fore during these high pressured times. I would like to pay a special tribute to all our people who are going the extra mile to satisfy customer demands.
https://www.smurfitkappa.com/newsroom/2021/skg-first-half-2021-results