In the year to 31 December 2021 Mondi Group posted sales up 16% at €7.72bn (£6.34bn).
Underlying EBITDA rose by 11% to €1.5bn, while operating profit was up 23% at €1.07bn.
In the results update Mondi also provided more information on its Russian operations.
It explained that over the last three years its Russian operations have generated around 20% of the group’s underlying EBITDA.
Earlier this week Mondi announced that it had suspended production at its paper bag plant in Ukraine, while the Russian operations continued to operate.
Mondi employs more than 5,000 people in Russia. Its operations there account for around 12% of group sales by location of production.
“Our businesses primarily serve the domestic market and have continued to operate through this time of heightened geopolitical tension. We are actively monitoring this rapidly evolving situation, the international response and the implications for the group,” Mondi said.
“The industries and geographies in which we operate expose us to specific long-term risks which are accepted by the board as a consequence of the group’s chosen strategy and operating footprint.”
Mondi’s share price has fallen sharply since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
Its shares were down 2.66% today (3 March) at 1,479.00p.
The group’s products include corrugated, containerboard, paper sacks and bags, flexible packaging, and papers for office and commercial printing.
It says that, including Russia, it is the number one uncoated fine paper supplier in Europe.
Commenting on the results, CEO Andrew King said the group saw a good opportunity to accelerate growth in sustainable packaging.
“We grew our packaging businesses and saw a recovery in uncoated fine paper markets. Our vertical integration, the agility of our operations and collaboration with our customers ensured we met surging demand at a time when supply chains were under pressure around the world,” King said.
“We implemented price increases across all our businesses and, against a backdrop of rising commodity input costs, we exhibited good cost control.
“Our focus on safety and protecting the wellbeing of our people remains our priority,” King stated.
The group has a €1bn pipeline of capex plans and is poised to make a €350m investment in paper-based flexible packaging, with a 200,000 tonne kraft paper machine earmarked for one of its “cost-advantaged facilities”. A final decision is expected this year.
Regarding the outlook, Mondi stated: “Looking forward, we expect to make progress in the year. There are significant geopolitical and macro-economic uncertainties and we anticipate continued inflationary pressures on our cost base.
“However, we also expect to realise the full benefit of the price increases implemented in 2021 and early 2022, shorter planned maintenance shuts and the contribution from our capital investment programme.”
