Packaging and paper manufacturer Mondi delivered a solid performance for the six months ended June 30, in a challenging trading environment, with underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of €564-million, including a €18-million forestry fair value gain, group CEO Andrew King says.

“Volume growth, price increases and good cost control effectively mitigated currency headwinds and inflationary pressures, a testament to our ongoing focus on proactive margin management and our culture of continuous improvement.

“These actions, together with good cash flow management resulted in improvements in cash generation in the period,” he points out.

The group’s two packaging businesses reported a solid performance, supported by higher average selling prices.

Corrugated Packaging’s underlying Ebitda was €203-million, 42% higher year-on-year, while Flexible Packaging’s underlying Ebitda was €302-million, 9% higher year-on-year.

Uncoated Fine Paper delivered underlying Ebitda of €81-million, including a forestry fair value gain of €18-million, compared with €166-million including a forestry fair value gain of €49-million reported for the first half of 2024.

“We continued to make good progress on our key strategic initiatives. All our major capacity expansion projects are now operational and ramping up production and sales, and the integration of Schumacher is on track,” King informs.

The group completed the acquisition of the Western Europe Packaging Assets of Schumacher Packaging on March 31, with integration and delivery of synergies on track.

The group declared an interim ordinary dividend of €0.23 a share, in line with last year’s comparable period.

“Looking ahead, ongoing geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties look set to continue impacting trading conditions into the second half of the year.

“In this environment, we remain focused on delivery of our ongoing productivity, cost and cash flow optimisation initiatives, while ensuring we are well positioned for long-term value creation in structurally growing markets, supported by our integrated, high quality and well invested asset base,” King comments.