LONDON (dpa-AFX) - DS Smith plc (SMDS.L) in its half-year pre-close trading update, said Thursday that the industry and business trends have remained consistent with the company's earlier trading update of 3 September 2019 and its expectations for overall financial performance for the period remaining unchanged.
The company anticipates good margin progression in the period, consistent with the upgraded target of 10 percent to 12 percent return on sales. This reflects pricing discipline and cost improvements together with modest box volume growth, as ongoing macro-economic uncertainty continued to impact volumes in some markets.
The company also expressed confidence about progressive volume growth during the second half of the year and said its greenfield packaging plant in Indiana will start production by the end of the calendar year.
Progress with the integration of Europac has been excellent with delivery of synergies in line with the recently upgraded 70 million euro synergy target, the company noted.
DS Smith said it expects completion of the disposal of its Plastics division with anticipated net proceeds of about 400 million pounds around the end of this calendar year.
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