In the update released this morning (3 September), the London-headquartered packaging giant said the market and business trends described in the outlook statement contained in its financial results for the year ended 30 April 2024 have continued, “with overall trading for the current financial year in line with DS Smith management expectations”.
Additionally, the business said the implementation of the combination of International Paper and DS Smith remains on track with the filing last month of the preliminary proxy statement by International Paper with the SEC (United States Securities and Exchange Commission).
Subject to the completion of the SEC’s review process of the International Paper proxy statement, the business said it expects to post its scheme documentation to shareholders in the near term.
Worth £5.8bn, the terms of the all-share combination deal were initially agreed in April and followed weeks of activity between the two companies.
The boards of DS Smith and Mondi had already reached an agreement in principle on the key financial terms of a possible all-share offer by Mondi for DS Smith in March, but Mondi pulled out of the takeover race shortly after the International Paper offer was made public.
DS Smith’s share price was down 0.28% on yesterday’s close to 471.09p at the time of writing at lunchtime today. It reached a 52-week high of 483p last week while its 52-week low was 260.50p.
Separately, new research from DS Smith has revealed that products wrapped in excessive plastic and packaging that isn’t recyclable are among Brits’ biggest supermarket packaging gripes.
According to the research commissioned last month by the company – a nationally representative survey of 2,000 people in the UK undertaken by OnePoll – 30% of respondents “can’t stand it when fruit or vegetables are packaged in loads of plastics”, while 25% admitted to not buying a product because it’s wrapped in so much of it. Meanwhile, 28% “are peeved by products that aren’t recyclable”.
Products being packaged in unnecessary layers; when you have to open a packet with scissors; and so-called ‘easy peel’ corners were other peeves that made the top 10.
21% said they have come across unclear recycling messaging on packaging – and respondents said if they did, a third would put it in the general waste while 32% would guess and put it in the recycling bin.
A spokesperson from DS Smith said: “Packaging is there to look after what’s inside – no-one wants to be left thwarted, unable to get at it. And clearly some of the wider gripes crop up when it feels like there is excessive plastic in play, and if packaging doesn’t appear to be readily recyclable.
“Those are all things that can often be remedied – waste can be designed out from the start, and paper-based materials can be much more readily recyclable.”
