The company blamed the loss on nearly $10 million of one-off costs, which it said were largely caused by the restructuring necessary to improve CHH's distressed assets.

That was accompanied by a 26% increase in underlying net profit to $4.75 million, "the highest six-monthly profit in the company's history".

The addition of CHH has significantly increased the size of company, with sales now topping $104.1 million for the six months, a 139.4% rise over the $43.5 million reported in 2011.

Colorpak also reported $106 million in revenue for the first half of this financial year – a 142% increase on the same time last year.

The large jump was attributed to the addition of CHH's folding carton operations.

Managing director Alex Commins told ProPrint he was delighted with the financial results.

"The underlying result was very good with strong growth in sales… The loss is really an accounting anomaly," he said.

"Colorpak is making good progress in a tough environment and protecting our reputation as the market leader and remains exceptionally focused."

Commins described the "rationalisation" of CHH as a disruptive process, so Colorpak would be looking to find efficiencies in the second half of the financial year.

He said a lot of work would be needed to make the CHH assets profitable, but he was happy with the progress that had been made.

He added Colorpak was not expecting second half revenue growth to match the first half figures, as seasonal factors associated with CHH meant the company would now be stronger in the first six months of the year.

According to Commins, the financial results confirmed Colorpak had a 30% share of the Australian folding carton market, which either placed it just ahead or level with major rival Amcor.

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