Amcor’s HY results see the company increase its sale revenue by 1.1 per cent, with less than one per cent falls in its profit after tax, profit before interest and tax, and EPS.

Taking into account currency fluctuations, the picture is more optimistic, reflecting sales revenue growth of 4.3 per cent from US$4.50bn to US$4.55bn. Profit after tax comes to US$328.7m from US$329.7m in the HY.

Within Rigid Plastics, revenue grew from US$1.33bn to US$1.41bn, while Flexibles saw a decrease from the previous corresponding period, with a modest fall from $3.16bn to US$3.14bn.

The company has also seen a decrease of 20 per cent in recordable cases, attributing the fall to improvements in its safety procedures. 

Ron Delia, CEO, Amcor, says, “Amcor had a good first half year with earnings growth in line with our expectations and balanced across the Flexibles and Rigids packaging segments. Cashflow and the balance sheet also remained strong and the interim dividend increased to 21.5 US cents per share.

“Some of the highlights within Amcor over the last six months include further improvements in our world class safety performance, with the number of recordable cases decreasing by 20 per cent compared with last year, continued sales growth with multinational and regional customers and in healthcare packaging globally and strong earnings growth in emerging markets.

“We remain on track to deliver against the full year outlook we provided in August 2018, which has not changed. In the 2019 financial year we expect both the Flexibles and Rigids segments to achieve solid underlying earnings growth in constant current terms, and cash flow is expected to be strong.

“Amcor is positioned in the packaging industry with scale and leadership positions in both flexible and rigid packaging, a broad, global footprint and leading innovation capabilities. By combining with Bemis, there is an opportunity to further strengthen our industry leading value proposition for customers and employees, and to deliver the most sustainable innovations for the environment. Significant value will also be created for shareholders through US$180m of cost synergies and a stronger financial profile going forward, including higher margins and cash flow and the potential for higher growth. Significant progress has been made towards completing the transaction, expected in the second quarter of calendar year 2019.

“The opportunities ahead for Amcor are substantial and we look forward to building an even stronger future with our new Bemis colleagues and customers.”

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