Mondi, the global packaging and paper producer, said market conditions continued to improve in the first quarter of 2024, with stronger order books leading to higher sales volumes.
In the three months to March 31, this was supported by a solid performance in the downstream converting operations.
Average selling prices were lower compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, however, recently-announced paper price increases were starting to come through in the second quarter, the group said in a trading statement Friday.
Market demand has continued to improve. While we entered the year with lower selling prices compared to the prior year, improvements in demand have supported our initiatives to increase selling prices across the business, chief executive Andrew King said in a statement.
Costs remained broadly stable compared to the fourth quarter of 2023. Underlying earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were in line with management expectations at 214 million euros (Q4 2023: 260m euro), which included a one-off 32m euro loss incurred from devaluation of the Egyptian pound.
In the Corrugated Packaging division, container board sales volumes were higher compared to the previous quarter and corrugated solutions delivered a stable performance.
Flexible Packaging saw good sales volume growth, which was largely offset by lower average selling prices.
Uncoated Fine Paper benefited from price increases; however, a lower forestry fair value gain impacted comparative performance.
During the quarter, Mondi paid a 1.60 euro per share special dividend, returning the proceeds from the sale of all the groups Russian assets. The special dividend was accompanied by a share consolidation where shareholders received 10 new ordinary shares for every 11 existing ordinary shares held.
We remain well positioned to benefit from this growing demand with our strong operational leverage, broad product offering and organic growth investment projects, which remain on track and on budget, said King. Edward West
