LONDON (dpa-AFX) - DS Smith Plc (SMDS.L), on Thursday, issued a pre-close trading update for the half year ending 31 October 2021, and stated that its overall financial performance remains in line with its expectations with very positive box volume growth, good cost recovery through increasing pricing and an enhanced performance from the company's US business all combining to more than offset significant input cost increases.
Cash generation remains strong, driven by enhanced profitability and good working capital management. The company expects net debt/EBITDA ratio to be in line with its medium-term target of about 2.0x at 31 October 2021.
DS Smith further noted that it has recently completed the €50 million sale of its non-core De Hoop paper mill; the proceeds would contribute towards the investment in the company's previously announced additional packaging manufacturing sites in Italy and Poland.
Progress in construction remains on track with the company's original plans with operations due to start in Q4 of this financial year. Customer reaction to these new state of the art facilities has been excellent with more than 50% of their capacity already pre-sold.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX