10th Feb 2016 08:25
LONDON (Alliance News) - Smurfit Kappa Group PLC on Wednesday reported growth in profit in 2015 as it announced the resignation of its Chief Financial Officer Ian Curley.
The paper-based packaging products manufacturer said Curley will step down from his role on March 31, following which Financial Controller Ken Bowler will act as CFO designate on April 1.
"We are pleased to have an executive of Ken Bowles' calibre to succeed Ian as group chief financial officer. Ken has held a number of senior financial roles in the group and has been central to the strong performance of the broader corporate and finance team over the last number of years," Chief Executive Tony Smurfit said in a statement.
Separately, Smurfit Kappa said its pretax profit in 2015 grew by more than half to EUR599 million from EUR378 million in 2014, as revenue rose to EUR8.10 billion from EUR8.08 billion.
It said higher revenue in Europe partly offset a reduction in the Americas, while pretax profit benefited from lower finance costs and lower exceptional charges than the prior year.
Smurfit Kappa increased its final dividend by 20% to 48 cents per share, contributing to a total dividend of 68 cents, a 23% increase year-on-year.
"Having established a strong platform for growth over the past few years, we expect to deliver good earnings growth in 2016. While this will, to some extent, be influenced by the broader macroeconomic environment, we are confident our current investment initiatives, our geographic diversity, our integrated business model and our strong free cash flow generation positions us well for 2016 and beyond," CEO Smurfit said.
Shares in Smurfit Kappa were trading up 7.4% at EUR19.65 early on Wednesday.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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