DS Smith Plc – pre close trading statement
May 2, 2018DS Smith Plc today issues a pre-close trading update in respect of the year ended 30 April 2018.
The business continues to perform in line with our expectations, with the industry and business trends consistent with our trading update of 7 March. Volume growth has remained strong with our focus on sustainable solutions and the accelerating e-commerce sector. This and continued growth in multi-national customers has resulted in further gains in our market share. Recovery of increased paper prices, which have risen throughout the year, has continued as expected and we expect return on sales to be in line with the prior year.
Volume growth in the US has been excellent, and we are very pleased with the positive reaction from local and global customers. Integration of Interstate is also progressing well and we now expect synergies to reach an annualised rate of $35 million by the end of the third full year of ownership (a further increase of $5 million on our expectations), driven principally by further anticipated global supply chain benefits.
Our acquisition of Ecopack and Ecopaper completed on 6 March 2018, further building our European network, and we are pleased with the initial progress made, driven by our proven expertise in integration.
Miles Roberts, Group Chief Executive, said:
“We are very pleased with the performance in the year, in particular in the step-up in volumes that we have delivered, and in the successful integration, customer reaction and volume growth within Interstate.
