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Packaging company Smurfit Kappa said its operating earnings for the first nine months of the year had grown 11%, buoyed by increasing sales volumes and margins.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the nine months through September had risen to €1.26bn, on revenue growth of 3% to €6.85bn.
The company's Ebtida margin was 18.3%, up 140 basis points.
Smurfit Kappa said its key metrics were either at, or ahead of, its stated targets.
In Europe, corrugated box volume growth was close to 4% on-year, around 2% on an organic basis.
Corrugated pricing has again been in line with our expectations,' the company said.
In the Americas, organic volume growth was about 2% with continued Ebitda and Ebitda margin improvement. 'While there have been, and continue to be, obvious macro-economic and political challenges, Smurfit Kappas's very strong performance against this backdrop shows, once again, the quality of our business and the benefits of our geographic diversity,' chief executive Tony Smurfit said.
'Consumers are increasingly demanding sustainable packaging solutions and with our unique applications, knowledge and expertise in paper-based packaging we are ideally positioned to take advantage of this mega trend.'