Ardagh Group back in the black ahead of IPO

Irish-owned glass and packaging group Ardagh has returned to profit mere months ahead of its planned partial flotation on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Luxembourg-based group — which is headed by businessman Paul Coulson and which has its roots in Irish Glass — yesterday reported pre-tax profits of €51m for the first six months of 2015. This compared with a pre-tax loss of €267m for the first half of last year.

Net debt was up to nearly €5.1m, from €4.73m at the end of last December. However, the group’s first half revenues amounted to just over €1.3bn, a rise of 2% when measured on a year-on-year basis.