Stora Enso prepares to sell parts of its forest assets in Sweden

AptarGroup, Inc. reported strong first quarter results driven by continued growth of the company’s proprietary drug delivery systems, increased injectables sales and an improving picture for consumer dispensing technologies in North America. Reported sales increased by 6% and core sales, excluding currency and acquisition effects, increased by 5%. Aptar reported net income of $83 million for the quarter, a 52% increase over the prior year. Reported earnings per share increased 50% to $1.23 and adjusted earnings per share increased 31% to $1.26. “We are off to a great start for the year. Strong sales growth in our Pharma business and continued margin expansion in our Beauty and Closures businesses helped us achieve double-digit earnings per share growth over the prior year quarter. Our Pharma segment continued to see healthy market demand and our proprietary drug delivery systems continued to show robust growth after growing more than 30% in the prior year quarter. Additionally, North America showed positive momentum across all three segments. Our teams remain focused on cost management and improved operational leverage, and were able to decrease selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses as a percentage of sales over the prior year quarter,” said Stephan B. Tanda, Aptar President and CEO, commenting on the first quarter results.

Smurfit Kappa has completed a two-phase upgrade of its facilities at the Barranquilla Paper Mill in Colombia. The 7.5 million USD investment saw the implementation of a Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) with state-of-the-art anaerobic technology, which reduces water intake from the nearby Magdalena River and improves the quality of water returned to it. The investment is a further example of Smurfit Kappa’s ongoing commitment to good water stewardship through using water sustainably and supporting natural water ecosystems. The upgraded facilities allow the Barranquilla site, which produces containerboard from 100% recycled materials, to contribute towards Smurfit Kappa’s ambitious sustainability targets that were expanded in January 2021.

Smurfit Kappa UK Limited has announced the acquisition of Atlas Packaging. Atlas Packaging, based in Barnstaple, North Devon, is an independent corrugated packaging provider. The company is well invested with a strong market presence in the UK which allows them to meet the needs of and deliver value to its broad customer base. With a particularly strong presence in shelf ready packaging, gift boxing and the e-commerce sector, they offer an exciting and broad range of innovative products.