Smurfit Kappa eyes international growth

Growth through acquisition in the Americas and Eastern Europe will be a priority focus of Dublin-based paper and packaging group Smurfit Kappa this year.

The company said yesterday, via the publication of its latest set of annual results, that if it doesn’t identify sufficient accretive acquisition targets, it will return capital to its shareholders.

While Smurfit Kappa’s 2013 figures show an 8% drop in pre-tax profits, to €294m, and a 23% decline in basic earnings per share to 82.2c; pre-exceptional item operating profit was up by 11% to €679m and EBITDA (again, before exceptionals were factored in) rose by 9% to just over €1.1bn. Group revenue, meanwhile, grew by 8% to €7.96bn.