Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) has reported revenue of €2.12bn for the third quarter of 2017, representing a growth of 4% compared to the same period last year.
For the full year that ended 30 September 2017, the company reported revenue of €6.3bn on a year-to-date (YTD) basis, which is 4% more than the €6.1bn it earned in YTD 2016.
The European corrugated packaging company attributed its acquisitions in Russia and Greece for expanding its packaging footprint.
Smurfit Kappa Group CEO Tony Smurfit said: “We continue to expand our geographic reach through the acquisition of a corrugated plant in central Moscow. This acquisition establishes SKG as the largest international corrugated packaging producer in Russia.
“In October, we agreed to purchase a high-end display and corrugated business in Greece, which provides us with a platform for future expansion in the region.”
Smurfit Kappa said that there was continued box price progression in Q3 as it saw across a free cash flow delivery of €152m for the reported period that ended on 30 September 2017.
The group’s increased sequential EBITDA margin for Q3 2017 was 15.1% while its corrugated volumes increased by 3% during the third quarter.
It revealed that the corrugated volumes in Europe moved up by 4% while in the Americas, it was 3% with growth seen in most markets.
SKG had faced a headwind of nearly €40m for Q3 2017 and €111m for YTD 2017 compared to the same periods last year owing to sustained recovered fibre cost pressures.
The company plans to continue to offset the cost pressures of recovered fibre by additional corrugated price recovery and efficiency improvements.
