DS Smith hails continued growth in trading statement

In a trading update for the year to 30 April 2015, which was released today (6 May), packaging giant DS Smith has said it is trading in line with expectations, with its strong underlying growth offsetting the continued strength of sterling.

The company said the second half outpaced the first half as well as the previous year. It said it has seen growth across all regions.

The group added that its return on sales and return on capital employed have continued to improve due to further business integration, increasing its value-added products and services to customers.

The firm said its outlook remained positive and that the business is performing in line with its medium-term financial targets, despite economic challenges in many of its markets.

Its proposed acquisition of European recycled corrugated board packaging business Duropack in February is now expected to go ahead in Q1 of the group’s financial year 2015/16, following completion of the necessary competition filings.

DS Smith group chief executive Miles Roberts said: “There’s no doubt we’ve had a good year, it’s been a busy year; we have continued to rationalise and improve our business portfolio with a number of transactions such as the acquisition of Duropack in addition to the acquisition of Andopack in Spain last autumn.

“At the same time we’ve also been investing capital in the business with a number of new facilities to drive growth, both in the manufacturing side but also in the roll-out of our design centres to get our innovation closer to our customers, wherever they are throughout Europe.

The group’s full financial results for the year to 30 April 2015 will be released on 25 June.