Mondi lifts as it reports healthy demand, pushes price hikes
Shares of paper and packaging giant Mondi lifted on Thursday when it reported that higher sales volumes and strong cost controls helped bump up its first-quarter profits.
Underlying earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation jumped almost 36% year-on-year to €290 million (almost R6 billion) in the three months to end March, it said, with this profit measure excluding various items to reflect the cash-generating ability of the group.
Strong demand also means the group expects price increases to benefit it in the second quarter, and in morning trade on the JSE, Mondi had gained over 3%, giving it a market value of R123 billion.
Mondi was spun out of Anglo American in 2007 and has its primary listing in London. It employs more than 24 000 people in more than 30 countries and while it is SA's biggest producer of uncoated fine paper and has mills in Richards Bay, less than a tenth of its sales are local.
It said on Thursday that it saw higher sales volumes across its paper grades compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, benefitting its corrugated packaging and flexible packaging division — items like boxes — though average selling prices were lower.
In the past few months, paper price increases have been implemented to largely recover the declines, it said.
In uncoated fine paper, market conditions remained muted with lower average selling prices, but profitability was supported by strong cost control.
The group said it was making progress with its capacity expansion projects, while it also completed the acquisition of the Western Europe packaging assets of Schumacher Packaging at the end of March.
This is expected to drive synergies, ramp up sales and provide customers with an enhanced range of products.
'In the first quarter of the year, we have seen stronger order books driven by increased demand for our sustainable packaging products,' CEO Andrew King said in the update.
'This has supported recent price increases, which we expect to come through from the second quarter.
'Towards the end of the first quarter, global trade tensions heightened macroeconomic uncertainty. While the direct impact of announced tariffs on our operations is limited, we remain mindful of the potential second-order impacts that could affect trade flows, consumer confidence and supply chains,' he added.
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