Smurfit Kappa urge shareholders to be patient following acquisition

PACKAGING giant Smurfit Kappa urged shareholders to be patient following the recent acquisition of US packaging rival WestRock.

At the company AGM this week, chairman Irial Finan said the company would not be able to answer questions about the deal from shareholders due to US securities laws.

Shareholders for the company, whose Ballymount premises in their packaging head office, wanted answers to questions regarding the acquisition at the AGM.

Announced last September, the tie-up – which is expected to be completed in July and would create the world’s largest box-maker – remains subject to shareholder approval.

In previous years, the group has released its first quarter trading update to coincide with its AGM.

However, Mr Finan said this year it was not possible to do so because of the various “pressures” associated with the WestRock deal. Smurfit Kappa will issue the update next Thursday.

Mr Finan said 2023 had been Smurfit Kappa’s second best financial year in its 90-year history, achieving revenues of €2.08 billion and an adjusted earnings margin of 18.5 per cent, in line with 2022.

In February, Smurfit Kappa reported a rise in fourth quarter production volume that snapped three quarters of declines.

Speaking to CNBC at the time, CEO Tony Smurfit said he believed “the worst is behind us in the sense of demand.”

Group volumes declined by 7 per cent, 5 per cent and 2 per cent in the first, second and third quarters, respectively.

Smurfit Kappa has around 47,000 employees in over 350 production sites across 36 countries.

The company is located in 22 countries in Europe, and in 13 across the Americas.