Smurfit Kappa (SKG) has been through a tumultuous year, resisting the advances of US paper group International Paper before seeing its Venezuelan operation taken over by President Maduro’s government.
The 90-day takeover prompted Smurfit to deconsolidate the plant. This explains the packaging group’s swing into a full-year loss, as it incurred a €1.3bn (£1.1bn) non-cash charge to its income statement. Strip this out, along with a few minor exceptional items – including defence costs in relation to International Paper – and Smurfit delivered pre-tax profit growth of 56 per cent. In spite of its experiences with takeovers, friendly and hostile, Smurfit Kappa demonstrated underlying growth across the board. The group closed out the year with increased sales volumes, while free cash flow came in at €494m against €307m in 2017.
Analysts at Goodbody forecast adjusted EPS of 306¢, up from 297¢ in FY2018.
SMURFIT KAPPA (SKG) | ||||
ORD PRICE: | 2,326p | MARKET VALUE: | £5.5bn | |
TOUCH: | 2,324-2,328p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 3,306p | LOW: 1,915p |
DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.7% | PE RATIO: | na | |
NET ASSET VALUE: | 1,163¢* | NET DEBT: | 108% |
Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (€bn) | Pre-tax profit (€m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
2014 | 8.08 | 378 | 106 | 55.4 |
2015 | 8.11 | 599 | 173 | 68.0 |
2016 | 8.16 | 654 | 189 | 79.6 |
2017 | 8.56 | 576 | 177 | 87.6 |
2018 | 8.95 | -404 | -274 | 97.6 |
% change | +4 | - | - | +11 |
Ex-div: | 11 Apr | |||
Payment: | 10 May | |||
*Includes intangible assets of €2.6bn, or 1,092¢ a share. £1=€1.14 |